As we all know, blogs are a great outlet to publish your ideas and thoughts to the world and receive feedback and discussion on the topic. People no longer have to rely on bias news stations in order to learn about the world. Instead, you get to choose who we get to follow for our news source with countless topics. You get to engage and provide our own opinions and talk to the writer. The two-way communication allows readers to explore the topic more and hear about exactly what they want to hear about. This article is about LiveFyre, and how it does a phenomenal job at maximizing your blog’s reader engagement.

First, lets examine two other powerful commenting systems which can add a lot of value to your blog.  I’ve examined many commenting systems in the past and looked out for the one that’s most ideal for clients and myself.

Disqus

Disqus was one of the neatest commenting plugins that came out, and it came out before the other big name commenting integrations. However, at the time when I discovered it, it was quite clunky and seemed very complex. As avant-garde as it was when it was released, it alienated readers and it was hard to simply send a comment in as a guest. Now it’s much more streamlined, easy to use, minimalistic, and provides stats. Another hot feature is it integrates with your social media profiles quite nicely. Another bonus is that you can customize how it looks. Have a look at the features. Unfortunately, the price is quite steep to fully take advantage of Disqus’ advanced features. $299/month. Ouch? Yes, Ouch.

Here’s what makes Disqus groovy:

• Realtime Commenting
• Social Media Login Integration
• Has a “Most Active Members” box
• In-depth analytics (for premium versions)
• Easy Media Embedding
• You can “Like” comments and have nested comments
• Restrict certain words and blacklist users
• Customizable theme
• Integrates with many platforms – WordPress, Drupal, Tumblr, Blogger, and even non-CMS sites

…and what’s ungroovy about Disqus:

• Advanced features requires a deep wallet – more targeted at companies than individuals
• Doesn’t have the advanced social media features that LiveFyre has

CommentLuv

CommentLuv is a fabulous idea to encourage people to comment on your blog by rewarding them with DoFollow links. Commenters received a link back to their latest post too, which helps their traffic out. When I used CommentLuv, I found a lot of people only commented just to get a link out of it. However, the creator, Andy Bailey found a solution to that. With CommentLuv Premium, you receive control over who gets the dofollow links. You can setup rules to allow dofollow for users who do something such as tweet your post, share it on Facebook, or after adding X number of comments on your blog. This helps your Social Media immensely. The problem is that its target is only other bloggers. What about the general public and people that don’t have a blog? Rewarding your readers is a great thing indeed, but the motive of commenting on a blog to receive a link is something that won’t captivate people to comment because they’re genuinely engaged in your article. Maybe they are, but you will always get people that are doing it exclusively for their own promotion. On the flip side, the price is right for CommentLuv Premium. For $87 you get a multi-site license and get lifetime updates amongst other cool features.

What Makes CommentLuv Groovy:

• Great, unique ways to reward readers with Dofollow links
• Increase your Social Media “Likes”, “Shares”, etc by rewarding readers if they share your content
• Trackback Validation
• Free version available, and inexpensive, one-time payment for the Premium Version
• Allows users to leave their Twitter profile link
• Has a keyword field so users can leave their names as well as their keywords for their SEO strategy

What’s ungroovy about CommentLuv:

• Benefits readers that are also bloggers…but not anyone else
• Commentors should be able to share if they genuinely want to share, not have to compromise in order to win a dofollow link
• Very basic features compared to Disqus and Lifefyre

LiveFyre

After trying the above plugins and continued to explore, I discovered LiveFyre. With Feedburner and now LiveFyre installed, my blog feels like an oven! Colleen Taylor (@loyalelectron) wrote about how LiveFyre  landed another 4.5 million dollars to take on Facebook’s commenting integration. Wow, I didn’t know commenting platforms even cost anywhere near that for development. But now every time I hear “LiveFyre” I put on my goofy geeky smile (one that I haven’t put on since the days I played D&D nearly a decade ago). LiveFyre burns up Disqus by offering most of their features for free plus their newest feature – SocialStream.

Imagine gathering discussions about your blog post from Twitter and Facebook and publishing it back into your blog. LiveFyre’s SocialStream lets you do this. On top of that, you can tag your facebook friends and twitter followers in the comment field itself. And then notify them that they were tagged. Cool? It’s hella cool in my books!

Building a community has never been better with this plugin. It targets any average user (whether blogger or not), as well as Facebook and Twitter users. It’s just so easy to use and super versatile.

Why you should consider getting LiveFyre:

• Realtime Commenting
• Sign in with Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, and OpenID
• SocialStream allows you to tag people from Facebook and Twitter, and then notify them they were tagged
• SocialStream imports conversations about the post from Twitter & Facebook
• Clean Interface
• It’s free for now!
• Nested Comments + Like buttons
• Users get “points” to show how influential they are based on # of comments. Similar to Disqus’ “Ranks”
• Ability to ban users
• User-powered comment flagging

Drawbacks for LiveFyre?

• Doesn’t have media-embedding capabilities that Disqus does

I’m excited to see how these evolve in the future and where it will go next. Dino Dogan suggests the future of 3rd party commenting will be a mix of Disqus and LiveFyre, while having an option to sort comments based on activity. Chronological isn’t the most logical way for comments to appear anyway – influence is. So I tend to agree with him!

But for now, LiveFyre surely takes the cake for the best commenting system.

What is your favorite commenting platform? Why?

Via SEOgadget – A London based digital marketing agency specialising in conversion optimisation.

The Cost of Renting and Staffing

Setting up offices in a foreign country for the long term involves very careful cost planning. When renting out a space for one or several years, you are essentially making a commitment to the letter, that you will be in business for a long enough span of time to honor the obligations stipulated in your contract. Of course, everyone wants to stay in business for as long a time as possible. On the other hand, the best way to stay on top of the business game under the current economic conditions is to be on your feet and, most importantly, to be able to fall on your feet, if push comes to shove. As such, if you are starting a globally-based business in a highly dynamic industry such as IT, marketing or advertising, in which the rules of the game are constantly changing, you might just profit more from establishing a virtual office.

Key Differences

When renting offices for the long term you usually receive a full-service pack, which includes the space per se, as well as maintenance and cleaning services, which the broker has contracted in your name. With virtual offices, the main advantage is that you don’t have to pay for utilities you never use. You and most of your staff are able to work from home or other remote locations, while your business contacts, prospects and clients stay in touch through a professional mailing address in a business center. You can use conference and meeting facilities on an occasional basis. Your call center and assistants redirect incoming requests via a complex communication system and, in a nutshell, your communication cost margin is driven down by eliminating everything that would be superfluous for doing business on the go. Relevance of Your Business Model Essentially, the decision on the type of office space you want to rent out is entirely up to you and is also inextricably linked to your business model, expansion strategy, mission, goals and vision for the future. If you plan to stay in one country for a longer time then, by all means, rent offices for a long time, keep an optimistic perspective on your success rate and hope for the best. If, on the other hand, you are a more adaptable kind of entrepreneur, then a virtual solution is probably more adequate for you.

Photo by Gabriel GM

Brochures are still considered one of the most powerful tools that help in the promotion of products or services. Be it a printed material or online, you should get the designs right. Designers who play safe go through a number of samples before designing one. Sometimes, it is also important to study the brochure design of your competitors.

In this age of tough competition, it is mandatory to promote your business and the products. As a graphic designer, you should do some amount of research to spice up your client’s brochure. Get inspired from seniors designers but do not directly copy their techniques. This way you will become a successful graphic design artist.

In this discussion, I will share with you some ideas to design powerful brochures.

Decide What You Want

First decide what your objective is. Do you want to start with the graphics or the content first? If you want the brochure to be content focused, then make sure to write content that is engaging and effective.

Highlight the primary selling points with bullets instead of writing lengthy content. On the other hand, if you wish to integrate attractive designs and images, then go for it. Whatever you do, ensure that the brochure looks smart and elegant. Avoid overdoing content or graphics as that will make it look messy.

1. Neat Layout

Having a neat and defined layout is very significant in brochure designing. It is a layout that determines the placing of content, images, or other design elements. Get your layout right before starting off with the design. It will help you modify the designs later, if there is a need.

2. Tell a Story

Try to tell a story about the business and its products. The content should have a succinct description of the business and its activities. Include points that build the credibility of the business. Be to the point.

After you are through with these details, start working on the images. Integrate images that support the story. Make sure that you target the right audience.

3. Use Limited Colors

Using colors is a good idea but using too many is not. You should use not more than two corporate colors to design your brochure. Colors should also match with the theme of the business.

There are some amateur designers who use multiple colors while creating a brochure. This makes the brochure look messy and unprofessional.

4. Font Selection

Correct choice of fonts also enhances the aesthetic appeal of a company brochure. Smart designers prefer to use fonts instead of images to make it more appealing. Fonts can be used as a substitute for images. This can be done by tweaking the font in a way to reinstate the functionality of a photo.

However, make sure not to use fonts that are illegible. There are several fonts online that look attractive, amusing or interesting. You can use such fonts provided they are easily readable.

A font that might appeal to you might not to someone else. Therefore, choose fonts that have a corporate look. Don’t spoil your design by opting for fonts that customers find difficulty in reading. Hope you do not want your readers to miss the information presented in the brochure.

5. Size Matters!

Decide on the size of the brochure before they are sent for printing. Even an insignificant difference might spoil what you have designed. As far as size is concerned, go for A4, A5 or A3, depending on the requirement.

6. Images

Bitmap and vector type images best support the design components of a brochure. Use images that are easy to audience eyes. You can create a contrast by placing smaller images next to a big one.

Make sure that the images used are related with the textual content of the brochure. Say for instance you are a florist; you should include images of vibrant and colorful roses, chrysanthemums, orchids, flower baskets or bouquets.

7. Paper Quality

The quality of paper used for the brochure can make or break a design. Its sale value will be enhanced if you use premium quality paper. Choose materials that have a smooth and glossy finish. This will make images look more attractive and livelier.

You can choose from art carton, paper mate, HVS or art paper. Remember it is the material that matters. It on the paper you integrate the images, design and fonts. If the brochure material looks shabby, then all your designing effort becomes futile.

Hope the above tips help you in making your brochure click!

_{Featured Photo by Criteron}

Many people ask the question: Why update old content when I can write new content? New content is seen as important because Google sees your site growing, so it’s a great question. Now, remember that that time you bought organic food and it went bad a kajillion times faster than food with preservatives? That’s just like old content… it goes bad at a faster rate than you’d like (not to diss organic food, I love the stuff – I’m just a pig and eat it quickly).

Old content can be updated and the more substantial you update it, the more it will revitalize its freshness factor. This includes better rankings and the links on the page will fill up with more link juice to pass on to linked pages.

For additional reading, this SEOmoz article does an excellent job of explaining the benefits of updating old content.

The goal of your site should be obtainable from the homepage

If you’re selling a product, it would be a good idea to put products or ‘buy now’ buttons on the homepage, but also important not to dilute the consistency of the page by pushing too many products and telling your users that you want them to buy your stuff. That makes you look desperate. Put a few, perhaps a compelling ‘about us’ section, some social media update feeds like a ‘twitter feed’, and some ways the user can browse your site.

If you’re an informational site, you want the users to read your articles. Putting a feed with excerpts of your newest or featured content would be helpful. If you’re featuring some of your information, it’s beneficial to analyze using Analytics software like Google Analytics to see what type of content your viewers look at the most.

For example, lets say you’re a blog and have 4 categories:

• Shoes
• Brews
• Snooze
• Crews

If 70% of your users are interested in the “brews” section (for your fantastic beer knowledge), and 10% viewing each of the shoes, snooze, and crews articles, it would be wise to feature something about brews on the homepage, because it is an easy gateway for them to get to the info they’re looking for. This helps your user AND you, especially if you’re monetizing your information site.

In most cases, contact forms are very important. Putting a contact form on the homepage really helps with the number of people contact you. When I moved my contact form on the homepage, I got many more people that contacted me than I got previously.

For godsake, make sure the user knows who you are and what you do

I’ve seen too many times websites that doesn’t describe what their topic is. And in many cases, it’s not easy to identify just at a first glance of the page. This is especially true for generic-looking blog themes that are designed to work for any niche. I’ve also seen it for fancy image sites that want an artistic edge. There’s nothing wrong with either, but if you want traffic and for Search Engines to index more keywords, having a tagline helps immensely. And make it prominent. It doesn’t have to be huge like Mailchimp’s homepage, but let the user know so they have an idea of what they’re looking at. Have a look at this tagline showcase from feedGrids for some inspiration.

Using images and text…properly

It’s not absolutely required to use images since there’s effective text-only homepages out there, but an image can really compliment what you’re trying to do. Lets evaluate two things: writing and images.

Writing and text are a method of symbolically transferring information, ideas, imagery, etc through the use of characters. These characters form words, and when the brain sees a word, they can use it to translate into images, concepts, and what you’re trying to communicate. It’s effective for saying something in-depth and elaborate. I cannot possibly give you the information you’re reading in this article through an image, so I write it out and use images to compliment what I wrote.

Images are also symbols, but the mind takes one less step by not having to interpret characters into thoughts, because it’s right in front of you. It could still be thought-provoking like artwork, but doesn’t need to be. Images can be used for instantly letting the user know what you’re all about.

Link to your inner pages

You have just a single page to encourage the user to get to the other parts of your website. This is why call-to-action buttons are extremely important. They’ll decrease your bounce rate, while also helping the user find what they’re looking for easily.

An example of an effective homepage

As Pro Blog Design revamped their site recently, lets have a look and see what they’re doing. It shows what it needs to show, and nothing else. Users that visit the site for whatever reason will easily find what they’re looking for. This site uses the 3 most common ways of making money – ad revenue, product sales, and services and organizes that in a clear and concise manner by each of them being a column. I also won’t hide the fact that this was one of my biggest inspirations from a UI/UX perspective for my own homepage revamp (main block + 3-column style highlighting different goals).

At first glance, this is what I saw (numbered by order of prominence):

1. Banner Images
2. Tagline
3. Feature Columns (Blog, Themes, Services)
4. Call to action buttons
   
5. Other Elements

The Header is visible, clean, and not bogged down with anything it doesn’t need like intrusive ads. It’s simply a logo and a navigation menu, so the user will put more emphasis on looking at what’s below and is not distracted by the header at all.

The Tagline is very easy to see – it was the 2nd thing that caught my eye when coming to this page after the main images. I understood the purpose of the site immediately.

The Banner Image is, in this case, featured websites. Since they create websites (as we learned in the tagline), this provides visual support and at the same time showcases some of their work.

The Blog is one of the better known of the web design blogs. They wouldn’t want to lose that on their homepage, and the previous design put far more emphasis on the blog and less on services. Since it has reversed and now the blog is an element within a services page, it’s a good choice to put it in an easy-to-access place… the left column and above the fold. It’s also listed as the first navigation item.

This column is also a feed of information, constantly changing so users can instantly see the new articles, which is also great for search engines since the homepage will constantly be re-indexed.

Their Themes are featured on the homepage, and go to their theme site, PliablePress. Since it’s another one of their three ways of monetizing, it’s justifiably prominent.

The Services offer solutions for what the tagline implies – blog and website design.

• The obvious: Web design backgrounds and graphic design
• Perfect for your mother’s garage sale flyers!
• Photoshop this pattern over George Bush’s head and see how he looks
• Print out a few of them and make them into a halloween costume (Free Ocular Harmony shirt for whoever actually does this)

Feel free to distribute, just keep it in the ZIP it came in with the credit document. It includes 6 seamless JPEG images.

Download Pattern Pack Now

New Logo

A new logo will be revealed soon, created by one of our close partners at Une Banane. It will be sharp!

New Design

Though revamping many times, Ocular Harmony hasn’t had much of a very strong, permanent incarnation in terms of UI. As a web development company, this is certainly important. The new design will be aesthetically pleasing and make the blog much easier to read, as well as significant changes to the homepage.

New Services

With all the other workers partnered with Ocular Harmony, new services such as Motion Graphics, Audio/Sound, and Mobile Apps will be available for your company’s growth.

Massive Blog Changes

This one’s a biggie. The blog section will become one of the most prominent parts of Ocular Harmony. There will be video tutorials being offered showing some of the creative processes for your inspiration. On top of that, these will always remain free. There will also be new blog writers, and more frequent posts. If you’re interested in becoming a writer, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Graphic Tees

In the future, silk-screened graphic tees will likely be available for purchase (and for free giveaways!).

Have any ideas? Think there’s something about the current site that needs to be let go of when switching to the new design?

It’s no coincidence that the vast majority of the websites featured in this article belong to individuals and organisations employed in some form of visual communication- whether it’s web design, graphic design or even cinematography. These people know what it takes to make a really great, original looking site and they’re not afraid to use it. Negative space typography can be difficult to read, but it doesn’t have to be. The examples explored below prove that it can add clarity to any design.

1. Alpha Multimedia Solutions

Alpha Multimedia Solutions is a web development and video production agency with a keen eye for cutting-edge graphic design. The word “ALPHA”, capitalized and in a large, negative typeface, can be seen on its homepage, each letter merged into the page’s main body.

2. Freelancing

There’s lots of negative space typography going on here, particularly on the homepage, where it can be seen in the “Follow Us” Twitter button, the page’s titles and the Freelancing logo itself.

3. FedEx

At first glance, you might wonder where the negative space typography is to be found here. In fact, it’s extremely subtle. You’ll find it in the FedEx logo itself, found on everything FedEx does. Take a look between the “E” and the “X” and you can see a little arrow. Found it yet? Not really part of the web design, but interesting nonetheless.

4. Rikcat Industries

This website is all about simplicity, clarity and minimalism. Negative space is used in the Rikcat Industries logo as well as in some of the call-to-action buttons. It looks really slick.

5. Pixel Umbrella

Nick Robinson of Pixel Umbrella is a master of graphic and web design. He often uses negative space typography in his own work. Unsurprisingly, it can also be found in his own site too, most noticeably in the header, where the word “Pixel” occupies negative space in a small, pixel-like square.

6. Klipp og Lim

If you can steal your eyes away from the sumptuous images of chocolates in the slideshow on Klipp og Lim’s homepage, you’ll be able to spot the company logo and navigation buttons, which have been cut out of a solid black bar.

7. siteInspire

siteInspire offers a portfolio of beautifully designed websites as well as an informative web design blog, so it’s only right that its own site should look spectacular too. You can find negative space typography in the logo in the top left of the screen, as well as in the categories list.

8. SUM

Branding and communications agency, SUM, uses negative space typography in its Venn diagram-like logo for a really crisp look. When visitors to the site hover over the buttons in the navigation bar, they turn red and the words become negative. Very clever.

9. Dropbox

Dropbox is a fantastic app renowned for its simple and straightforward design. Its website is no different: visitors are efficiently ushered into downloading the free app as there’s very little else you can do. The main “Download Dropbox” call-to-action button uses negative space typography and the results are, visually, incredibly clear.

10. Bonsai

Like Rikcat Industries, Bonsai’s website is highly professional with a minimal black-and-white aesthetic. Negative space typography can be found in the square Bonsai logo, which looks really clean.

11. Gravica Design

Gravica Design is a highly respected visual communication strategy firm based in Philadelphia. Negative space typography can be seen throughout the site, letting the company achieve a really stylish, modern design with plenty of white space.

12. ab+c

Homepages don’t come much cleverer than this super-cool design from web development agency ab+c. It features a series of words, some in negative typefaces, which change to reveal new sentences and meanings. I love it!

13. Narrow Design

Portfolio sites can often be boring, but not this one from Narrow Design. Visitors can scroll through past work quickly by simply moving their mouse up and down. The titles of each project are displayed in negative typefaces.

14. Socio Design

Negative space typography can be found on the homepage and throughout the site of trendy graphic design agency, Socio Design. Words are cut out of blocks of colour, creating a really up-to-the-minute look.

15. Adobe

What Adobe doesn’t know about graphic design, frankly, is not worth knowing. It comes as know surprise to me, therefore, that they use negative space typography in everything they do, including their website. Where? In its logo.

16. Digital Devotion

This German website manages to use tons of pink and purple on its website yet maintain a degree of class. Negative space typography is used in the banner at the top and in the navigation buttons on the left-hand side.

17. Spectra

Spectra’s website is unique: a perfect marriage of spectacular design and great user experience. Negative space typography can be seen on most of the buttons on the site, of which there are, literally, hundreds.

18. Smart

You’ll be hard pressed to find a website more interactive than this one from Smart, the car manufacturer. Visitors are invited to “Design” their own Smart car or “Drive” one interactively on their computer, over various courses. Both of these words are written negatively on small black blocks.

19. David Hellmann

The logo in the top left corner of David Hellmann’s site has been cut out of a block of blue, revealing the background colour beneath. Roll your mouse over it and the words change, guiding visitors back to “Home Sweet Home”.

20. Eclectic Pulp

Similar to David Hellman’s site, the logo in the top left of this page incorporates negative space typography, with the words removed from a block of colour to reveal the background underneath. The same can be said of the buttons in the navigation bar, which change colour when clicked.

21. Jan Reichle

Jan Reichle is a director/cinematographer. His great work covers everything from corporate to music videos. The use of negative space typography could not be clearer on his site, with a large letter “R”, in negative of course, on the left hand side of the page.

22. AIGA/NY

Negative space typography can be seen used in AIGA/NY’s logo, with the word “AIGA” cut out of a solid black square. It’s also apparent in the various navigation buttons, which turn into red blocks of colour, throughout the site.

23. Jason Mayo

Jason Mayo’s logo is simple, but superb. It wobbles, changes colour slightly and then settles into a solid black circle with the word Mayo cut out in the middle.

24. LifeLab

Unlike some of the more monotone examples in this list, Australian real estate company, LifeLab, has gone for a colourful, vibrant look. Nevertheless, negative space typography can be seen throughout, such as in the logo and the navigation bar.

25. The Brand Union

You’d be hard-pressed to find a better use of negative space typography than in the amazing logo for The Brand Union- a great mix of negative space and colour. When visitors first open the page, they are greeted with a large, expanding version of the logo itself.