The Key to Creating Remarkable Things – The 99 Percent
The idea of doing our real work first and “reactive” work second (answering emails, getting resources for colleagues etc.) sounds like common-sense, doesn’t it? But is that really how you function day to day? Or do you spend the morning “getting ready” to knuckle down… then suddenly it’s three o’clock and time for a cup of soup? In this article, Mark McGuinness explains why doing it the right way round is so important and gives a few tips on how to make it work.…
Lesley Hays is one of Bluewire Media’s web developers and a web strategy advisor. Internally, Lesley drives Bluewire’s ‘service methodology’, utilising her natural project management and communication skills as our customer experience manager.
Lesley’s native genius is ‘organising ideas and planning’ and she can take multi-faceted and -layered needs and ideas, and produce streamlined, workable solutions.
In her spare time Lesley studies horticulture, plays the cello, sings in a choir and enjoys camping. Follow @lesleyhays on Twitter.
Blog posts by Lesley
Weekly round-up (Vol. 62)
Learn How Google Works: in Gory Detail – PPC Blog
A snazzy infographic that simplifies the Google-machine! It can seem pretty overwhelming to try to understand how Google works, especially if you’ve recently jumped into search engine optimisation yourself, but this diagram breaks everything down from Googlebot crawls to displaying the Adwords next to your search results.
Beyond the Checkin: Where Location-Based Social Networks Should Go Next – Mashable
If you’re a traditional “early-adopter”, you’ve probably got into the location-based trend (think Foursquare, Gowalla etc.). You might have even experienced “checkin fatigue” as you reluctantly get your iPhone out to checkin at your favourite cafe again…
If you’re like me, then you need to see a lot more before you take up these sorts of things!…
Continue ReadingWeekly round-up (Vol. 61)
Critique me, Please – 50 Weeks of UX
How well can you handle critique of your work? Joshua Brewer talks about how being open to critique leads to “better communication, greater creativity and more transparency”. So should you practice being critiqued?
List of common misconceptions – Wikipedia
If I told you that Napoleon wasn’t unusually short or that the Great Wall of China can’t actually be seen from space, would you believe me? What about that Thomas Edison didn’t invent the lightbulb? If that’s not blowing your mind yet, check out the Wikipedia article on common misconceptions!…
Weekly round-up
- Harvey Norman takes to Twitter in online backflip – Dynamic Business
- 10 Fun Facts You Didn’t Know About Google – Mashable
- 15 Amazing Apps for File Storage in the Cloud – Web.AppStorm
- The greatest defunct web sites and dotcom disasters – CNET UK
- 11 Useful Google Chrome Extensions for Serious SEO Workers – Blog Web Designer
- YouTube Launches New Video Editor Tool – Mashable
- The Vuvuzela By the Numbers [infographic] – Mashable
- Book shelves made from 15,000 pencils – Dyscario
Reminisce on the weekend from a different point of view…
Continue ReadingWeekly round-up
- “Guitar Hero” Rocks Out on iPhone – Mashable
- Inspirational 50 Twitter Backgrounds Showcase – 1st Webdesigner
- Starbucks Used Social media to Get One Million to Stores in One Day – Mashable
- Is Facebook Getting Bigger Than Google? – Mashable
- The Top 8 Free Online Image Editors – Web.AppStorm
- 5 Gadgets That Will Transform Your Home – Mashable
- Successful Strategies For Selling Ad Space On Low-Traffic Websites – Smashing Magazine
- Top 30 Failed Technology Predictions – Listverse
…and Twitter goes wild!
The Guardian (UK) is showing instant replays of all the World Cup games… as seen on Twitter.…
Continue ReadingWeekly round-up
- 5 Tips to Effectively Promote your Articles – Creative Overflow
- 25 Awesome Google Search Tips and Tricks – AppStorm
- Even Dolphins Love the iPad – Mashable
- 10 things you didn’t know about Twitter – Telegraph.co.uk
- New App Helps You “Game” Foursquare Mayorships – Mashable
- Microsoft’s own “Upgrade Your Browser” promo!
- How We Improved Our Conversion Rate by 72% – dMix
Proof that everyone Googles themselves…
… Continue ReadingWeekly Round-up
- 3 Online Tools to Backup Your Twitter Account – Madras Geek
- On “Out of office” replies: The Difference Between “Not Here” and “Away” – Pow! Right between the eyes! (Why not take a quick holiday to test out your new techniques?) via @SmashingMag via Fast Company
- How To (Further) Engage Your Readers – Noupe
- 7 Keys to a Successful Design Project – DesignM.ag
- Funny Business and the Lack of Humor in Web Design – Design Shack
- Bizarre Websites On Which You Can Kill Time With Style – Smashing Magazine
Contribute to Mozilla’s new Open Web Fund and get a T-shirt!…
Continue ReadingWeekly round-up
This week’s round-up is tinged with sadness as we say goodbye to our long-standing and well-loved designer, Sarah Hyne. Sarah’s migrating to new, lush pastures over at MAP Magazine. Sarah had been with Bluewire for two and a half years and in that time she instigated our famous “Weekly Round-up” blog posts.
It’s with a bit of trepedation that I take over these posts! So here it is… the first of Bluewire Media’s Monday Weekly Round-ups.
- Has the iPhone lost its cool? – CNN
- Test drive Internet Explorer 9
- 24 Essential Social Media Resources You May Have Missed – Mashable
- 17 Useful Tips to Extend Your Laptop’s Battery Life – Guiding Tech
- Google Launches Secure Search – Mashable (Use it here: https://www.google.com
The Northside’s best kept secret lets loose online
March has seen the launch of the brand new online face of St Patrick’s College, Shorncliffe. Last year, the school decided they needed to have a website that reflected their values and the high quality of their education. So, Bluewire Media came in to take them through an internet strategy designed to discover the best way to do just this.
The new website’s “go live” date, St Patrick’s Day, was well publicised in the school’s frequent newsletter, so the launch was a busy day — the stats showed over 300 different people went on to check it out on the 17th alone!…
Continue ReadingUsing social media as marketing tools
Charlie Carter is Bluewire Media’s sales coordinator. As part of his role, he’s in charge of using social media outlets (that’s our Facebook & Twitter accounts, for starters) to expand our sales & marketing outreach.
SO, CHARLIE…
You have a history in commercial & industrial real estate. What’s a nice guy like you doing in a digital industry like this?
Simple really, I was looking for a new challenge! I have always been more technically minded than perhaps some of my former colleagues in the real estate industry and coupled with the fact that I love working with people it was an easy choice at the end of the day.…
Continue ReadingHitting the Launch button
The “launch” is what a website project is all about. It’s our common goal: the whole project team, the client, third party contributors—everyone!—strives towards making it a reality every day. But for many people, what actually goes into making a website live is a great mystery…
There’s no secret “launch” button.
BoxUK.com have written an amazingly comprehensive “Launch Checklist“. With 58 boxes to tick off between getting approval and moving into the maintenance phase, it’s no wonder this part of the project always seems to take longer than expected.…
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