Creation-1

We have recently contributed to the UNICEF fund countering the effects of the worst drought to hit Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia in the last 60 years.  According to UNICEF, 2 million children are at risk of starvation to to the lack of food and sky high food prices.  If you would like to contribute to the fund, Click Here to help.

At Creation-1 we have been thinking a lot about how lucky we are to be working, eating, and living in relative safety in a world that sometimes seems very harsh.  This will be the start of a campaign called “Design For Good”.  Design For Good is our little way of giving back to the world and making it a better place.  Wether it’s humanitarian causes or contributing to art and technology projects, we think our company has finally evolved into an entity that can contribute a little piece of hope into this world.

So I was planning on writing this really great article about how to setup an internet merchant account and payment gateway for eCommerce. It was going to have all of these great referenes and break down the whole setup process for client’s to truly understand what they need to do.  Well, Smashing Magazine beat me to it! Go here to read the article,  It is quite handy if you ask me.

As a part of the new website rollout we wanted to make ourselves even more accessible to our clients.  One of the most commonly heard complaints about web developers and designers is that you can NEVER get a hold of them.  Calls go straight to voicemail (or worse- VM box is full!), emails are never returned, projects are delayed (even forgotten); unfortunately this is all too common in our industry.

We strive to return all emails and phone calls within 24 business hours and be on Skype, AIM, and iChat during business hours for instant availability.  You can click on the contact page of our portfolio site at  Creation-1.com and check our Skype and iChat status.  Drop us a line and say hi!

We have a few videos that we show to clients from WordPress.tv to help them understand the WordPress admin.  They serve as a precursor to our one on one walk-through of a client’s website and also to help the client decide if WordPress is the right CMS for them.
Intro to the WordPress Dashboard

Moderating Comments

Editing a post in the WYSIWYG

Adding photos, video, and other media, to your site

This one’s for the mac users out there who want to publish your iCal but don’t want to pay $100.00 a year for such a basic service.

Before I start I must mention that Google Calendar is much better for people who need multiple people publishing to the same calendar.  If you just want to have clients and/ or co-workers view your iCal calendar on their iCal then this will work great for you. (more…)

I just read a Great Article at Problogger.net about 30 Valuable Lessons Learned Using Social Media For Small Business.  The article reiterates a lot of the advice that I personally give to small business owners.  Especially the advice about blogging and focusing on the outlets that will be the most powerful for your business.

I found this at CMO.com and though it was very interesting.  There are a lot of social media sites, bookmarking sites and aggregating sites out there and this is a great way to lay them all out.  A lot of people are asking about the validity or effectiveness of a certain outlet.  For instance, “Should I be using _______<—Insert social media outlet”  My answer at first is always “It depends”.  Well this goes a little deeper and really digs into the specificity of each site.

Our focus is mostly on development and design but we often integrate social media into websites.  People want to know what works and what doesn’t.  It really depends on what your goals are.  Determine your goals before you start your social networking and online marketing. This will save you a lot of time.  Unless you have a larger team, you can’t participate fully in every single one.  It’s better to just pick 1 and build on that.  Don’t participate in another until you think you can handle it.

Here’s the goods:

CLICK TO ENLARGE or go to CMO.com to download a PDF

This post serves as a reference for how to set up your email on several different devices and email programs wether your website is hosted on Media Temple or with Creation-1.

Set Your Email up With:

• Outlook 2007

• Windows Live Mail

• Apple Mail

• Iphone Mail

• Blackberry

• Entourage

I just read a great article at Smashing Magazine that is a must read for anyone thinking about a new website.  We build 95 percent of our websites with a content management system that allows the client to update and edit their content with ease.  The article helps explain the capabilities of content management systems and the basic principles behind  them.

Click Here to read the article!