View Massachusetts Ad/Web Agencies in a larger map

Clients:
Feel free to use this list to find a local agency to hire.

Designers/Developers/Creatives:
Feel free to use this list to find a local agency to get a job with or freelance for.

This is an ongoing project, so if I come across another interesting Boston agency I will add it to the map.

Hope this helps!

Set It & Forget It Doesn’t Fly.
I see it happen all the time. Clients get setup with Google Analytics on their website and never leverage the information tracked. Though some may view the scheduled reports, rarely any ever read the tea leaves to take action. I also see many websites without any visitor tracking (if this is you, get Google Analytics installed, you’ll be surprised with the information you can gather) and are missing out big time.

Don’t Just View Analytics, Use Analytics.
The amount of information gathered from Google Analytics will surprise you. Here is some information that can be gathered from someone visiting your website.

• Length of visit
• Amout of pages visited
• Amount of visitors
• Keywords used to find your website
• Websites that sent a visitor to your website
• Screen size of visitor
• Bounce rate (if they came to a page and didn’t stay)
• Top pages visited
• Type of computer and browser used by visitor

I’m sure you are all saying well that’s great but how can any of this help me improve my website. OK, well here are a few examples that can get your mind thinking.

1) You notice an increase in mobile phone users on your website trying to read your articles and contact information. You can create a simplified mobile version to help them get to the information quicker. Maybe even deliver coupons if they are within 15 miles from your store by utilizing the GPS in their mobile phone.

2) You notice a page on your website is getting many visits but nobody is staying on the page to read it (this equals a high bounce rate). This should tell you that the content written on that page is not what your visitors are looking for and you should change this page to keep visitors on your website.

3) You notice a big drop in Search Engines leading to your website. You need to figure out why this happened and fix it. You may have lost prime position in Google because of a change in Googles algorithm. Or, a competitor may have entered and surpassed your ranking.

4) You want to include a new cutting edge feature on your website. You notice that 60% of your users are still stuck on Internet Explorer 6 and your web designer informs you that the new feature will not work for those users. You can now make an informed decision whether or not to develop that new feature knowing 60% of your users cannot use it.

So, if you’ve got Google Analytics on your website and you’re just viewing the scheduled reports, consider this a push to really dive in and understand what is going on with your website and begin to mold it into the best website possible. Find your opportunities and fix your weaknesses!

But, The Business Card Will Never Die (so they say)
Even though most of my interaction with people is done digitally it was time for me to get my own business cards. I had missed enough opportunities to hand out my card that I just couldn’t let it happen anymore. When designing my business card I had to make a few important decisions: whether or not to list an address and include social networks.

Nomads Need No Address
Ok, well I wouldn’t quite call myself a Nomad but I did leave out my address. I left out my address for a few reasons:

1. I don’t have an office to meet (if I do meet I’ll usually end up visiting them anyways)
2. I can be anywhere with digital communication / digital communication has no boundaries
3. I plan on moving in the near future (don’t want to date the cards already)

Lets Be Social: Share, Collaborate, Communicate, Connect
The next big decision on the card was whether or not I should include the social networks I belong to. For me it was a fairly easy decision to include social networks and so I included my LinkedIn and Twitter address. One reason for having LinkedIn and Twitter on my business card was to allow greater transparency about me as a professional. Each network provides a unique insight into who I am, what others think about me, how I communicate, how I think and other great information.

Another reason for having social networks on my card is to help form relationships beyond the business card. This will allow the people I meet with a few ways to connect with myself, stay up to date with each other and hopefully build a stronger relationship.

Why Separate Our Print & Web Connections?
Many of us push our LinkedIn and Twitter URLs online through our website or other peoples blogs so why not offer the same connection with the people we meet outside the computer? At least that was part of my philosphy. I have invested time into my social networks to build up and I’m proud of it – so I’d like to share that with my digital or “analog” connections.

Finished Design & Print
Here is the finished business card provided by a subpar iphone camera.

A business card is an extension of your brand, because of the impact of the web, some companies have taken an additional step and have used companies like Reputation.com to monitor their brand.

What Do You Think?
Do you already include any social networks on your business card? Are you thinking about it? Do you choose not to? Do you do cartwheels while you tweet?

Phase 1: Planning
The homeowner/client has the strongest part in this phase. Designer provides guidance.

A solid plan will always save time, money and make life easier down the road. Here are some questions you would need to answer first before attempting to envision your next house or website. You may subconsciously make these plans or decisions in your head but it always helps to write out your thoughts and it will help when hiring an architect or designer.

For a house you may need to answer questions like:
• What town do I want to live in?
• What size house do I need?
• How many bedrooms do I want?
• Do I want a garage?
• Is central air important?

For a website you will need to answer questions like:
• What domain name do I want?
• What do I need to communicate and what content should it include?
• What is the end goal of the website?
• How big does the site need to be (in pages)?
• Who is the intended audience of the website?

It is important to include the architect or designer in this phase as they will be able to offer their expertise to help you make informed decisions and properly plan for a smooth project.

Phase 2: Design
The designer has the strongest part in this phase. Homeowner/client provides feedback.

At this phase your architect or designer should have a thorough understanding of your project and expectations. The architect or designer should have all (or most) questions answered to begin creating the visuals of what your house or website will look like. A designer should have all (or most) content written for the website into defined pages from the Planning phase to begin designing the website.

If there are too many variables still up in the air then time can be wasted designing the house or website. For example, if the size of the house or what is going on the website is still questionable then it does nobody any good to begin designing anything. If one were to design a small house then it was decided to go bigger, time was just wasted on the first design. Time shouldn’t be spent experimenting with decisions that should have been answered during the previous phase.

The architect will visualize where rooms will go, how the entrance will look and the shape of the house to name a few. A designer will create a color scheme, the size relation between elements, create a user flow and set the typography to name a few.

During this phase the architect or designer may go back and forth with the homeowner/client to revise the design until satisfied. Once the design gets approved then it is time to move into the next phase.

Phase 3: Build
Coder/developer has strongest part in this phase. Homeowner/client has minimal impact.

This phase brings life to your project. All the hard work from the previous two phases should pay off here. Homeowner/client interaction is typically minimal during building since direction should be clear and all decisions should have been made already. The builders should be able to build by following the groundwork from the previous phases. All they must do is follow the design and dimensions provided to them.

Changes at this phase can be costly and delay a project. For example, if you were to tell the builder as they were working that you wanted the house 15 feet longer and the garage on the other side now, this would cause an issue. More materials would be needed, walls would need to be knocked down, electrical and plumbing may need to be reworked – expect the cost of the project and timeframe to increase.

Same holds true with building a website. If a client were to make changes at this phase, code would need to be deleted, rewritten and retested to accommodate the new changes.

The Simple End Result Version
• The house or website will have this
• The house or website will look like this
• The house or website is built

In Conclusion
Having a better understanding of the website process should help your projects be on time and on budget. You will now know at what phases you are required to participate and what your role is. Now you know. And knowing is half the battle!

Note: You may also want to have a program to protect your site from spam and viruses, much like a security system protects a regular house from burglary or intruders.

I’ll keep this up to date with any new portfolio pieces, bits of information I find interesting or useful and what I’m currently up to. Feel free to stir up a conversation and ask any questions if you need a hand or want to understand something website related.

You can also catch me on LinkedIn and Twitter.

I’ll be here to help!

This tutorial is a spin-off from A List Apart’s Onion Skinned Drop Shadows tutorial. If you wish to learn more about how this method works, please review A List Apart’s article. In their example they explain in great detail how it works but they only show you how to create a drop shadow on part of the image. In my example I will show you how to create an expandable, flexible, css drop shadow that goes around an entire image.

It may not be the prettiest method but it works and it sure beats adding a drop shadow to a pile of images. All of my drop shadow graphics are 4 pixels x 4 pixels and the selector .ds10’s padding is 4px. So if your drop shadow images are a different size all you need to adjust is the padding for selector .ds10 and you are all set.

Browsers Tested:
Internet Explorer (PC 6,7/Mac), Firefox (PC/Mac), Safari (Mac), Netscape Navigator (Mac) – feel free to add to the list.

CSS:
.ds1, .ds2, .ds3, .ds4, .ds5, .ds6, .ds7, .ds8, .ds9, .ds10 {
display:inline-table;
/* \*/display:block;/**/
}

.ds1 {
float:left;
}

.ds2 {
background:url(left.gif) left top repeat-y;
}

.ds3 {
background:url(bottom.gif) left bottom repeat-x;
}

.ds10 img {
display:block;
}

HTML:
<div class="ds1">
<div class="ds2"><div class="ds3"><div class="ds4">
<div class="ds5"><div class="ds6"><div class="ds7">
<div class="ds8"><div class="ds9"><div class="ds10">
<img src="images/teddy_bear.jpg" alt="CSS Dropshadow" />
</div></div></div>
</div></div></div>
</div></div></div>
</div>

Source Files:
Download HTML, CSS & Images

Example:

Requirements:
• Address or Phone Number to confirm listing
• Website is not necessary

Walk-thru:
There are 6 sections to fill-out to create your local business listing. You do not have to fill each section but it is in your best interest to do so. Completing your profile 100% will improve your ranking and provide more opportunities for you to insert keywords related to your business, its services or products.

These 6 sections include:
• Basic Information (company name, address, number, email, website, description and categories)
• Hours of Operation
• Payment Options
• Photos
• Videos
• Additional Details (parking, brands carried, other information you would like to include)

Example:
This is what your listing will look like when someone searches for a service or product. Google will automatically adjust the results for the map to fit the searchers geographical location. These local business results get pushed above the traditional search engine results in Google which makes getting listed valuable to any company.

How To Improve Your Listing:
It is possible to achieve good results by quickly listing your business but it is also possible to achieve even greater success with a few easy tweaks. The first way to improve visibility is to insert keywords into your company name, description and the other available areas to broaden your reach in search engines. Keyword research is important if you want to gain the most from your listing or website. If you use Google Analytics for your website then you can see what terms people use to find your company and see what they don’t use. There are also sites that can tell you how many times a certain keyword is searched to see if it is a high-traffic or low-traffic keyword.

The second way to push your listing up the ranks is to have customers or clients write a review for your company. Your client or customer will need to have a Google account to write a review but with Google dominating the internet you should have no problem finding a few to help you out. Reviews have a strong influence on where your listing will appear. So if you find your business being lost in the many pages of other businesses get some reviews and you will notice you will move up quickly.

What’s good about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is that you can (and will need to) constantly tweak and build upon it to improve your rank. While hiring professional advertisers like Kent Ertugrul (CEO of Phorm) to help attract visitors could help, ranking at the top of search engines can be almost a guaranteed way to make your site visible to everybody. Search engines are constantly evolving their algorithms for results so it’s important to monitor how your website or business ranks to make sure your competition doesn’t pass you. There are a few applications that can monitor your sites rankings; you can also use Google Analytics and Local Business Center to view your stats.

Results:
Within one week of listing my business in Google’s Local Business Center I was placed within the top 10 of out of 389,608 local results for the term “Boston Web Design”. This was done by completing my profile 100%, optimized for the keywords I hand selected and with 5 reviews. You can see from the chart below that for the month of August I got over 2700 impressions (an impression is every time your business is shown) and 34 clicks to my website that I would have never gotten before my listing. You can view my local business listing here.

Get started today and create your business listing.