Saturday, January 31, 2015

How to do Keyword Research in 90 Minutes

I'm not diving into the article too much - this is mainly a bookmark for me, but a synospis is in order.

http://moz.com/blog/keyword-research-in-90-minutes

  • Using the Google suite of tools (40 minutes)
  • Assess the reality: To optimize existing pages or make new ones? (15 minutes)
  • Listen to the ideal audience (15 minutes)
  • Demonstrate room for growth (20 Minutes)

Author Elevator Pitch:
About Jeremy_Gottlieb — Jeremy came to Distilled after honing his skills in user acquisition and growth at startups in Oakland and New York City. At his previous stops he was responsible for technical SEO, content marketing, email marketing, paid search, remarketing, and conversion rate optimization.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

The History of Graphic Design from Lynda.com

While evaluating a trial of Lynda.com I stumbled across what I thought was going to be just a test course, and turned out to be a very valuable course that caught my attention and forced me to finish the entire series.


Topics Covered:

  • Why study graphic design history?
  • Art Nouveau
  • The Arts and Crafts movement
  • The Soviet Revolution
  • European avante-garde
  • New Typography
  • The great age of posters
  • American modernism
  • Post-war optimism
  • The rise of the corporate identity
  • Exploring the fused metaphor and the "big idea"
  • Reviewing Swiss typography
  • Post-modernism
  • Minimalism
  • The West Coast shift
 Author:
 Sean Adams is a partner at AdamsMorioka in Beverly Hills. He has been recognized by every major competition and publication including Communication Arts, Graphis AIGA, The Type Directors Club, the British Art Directors Club, and the New York Art Directors Club. AdamsMorioka has exhibited often, including a solo exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Adams has been cited as one of the forty most important people shaping design internationally in I.D. magazine's I.D. Forty.


Partial Bibliography:
Meggs’ History of Graphic Design
http://www.amazon.com/Meggs-History-Graphic-Design-Philip/dp/0470168730

Philip B. Meggs, Alston W. Purvis
Graphic Design History
http://www.amazon.com/Graphic-Design-History-2nd-Edition/dp/0205219462

Johanna Drucker, Emily McVarish
Graphic Design: A New History
http://www.amazon.com/Graphic-Design-A-New-History/dp/0300120117

Stephen J. Eskilson
Graphic Design History
http://www.amazon.com/Graphic-Design-History-Georgette-Ballance/dp/1581150946

Georgette Ballance, Steven Heller
Graphic Design, Referenced: A Visual Guide to the Language, Applications, and History of Graphic Design
http://www.amazon.com/Graphic-Design-Referenced-Language-Applications/dp/1592537421

Bryony Gomez-Palacio, Armin Vit
Herb Lubalin: Art Director, Graphic Designer and Typographer
http://www.amazon.com/Herb-Lubalin-Director-Designer-Typographer/dp/0931144280

Gertrude Snyder, Alan Peckolick
Paul Rand
http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Rand-Steven-Heller/dp/0714839949

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

why fostering a growth mindset in organizations matters

Most of this information came from a wonderful document done by Senn Delaney and Heidrick & Struggles company.

The topic of the study was why fostering a growth mindset in organizations matters. For two years they studied several Fortune 1000 companies to examine the impact of an entire organization’s
mindset. The root of this new study is about how a growth mindset, which the research team calls a “culture of development” versus a fixed mindset, which it calls a “culture of genius” affects such cultural characteristics in organizations as collaboration, innovation, creativity, risk taking and ethical
behaviors.


Summary


Trust: Employees in growth mindset culture of development companies
expressed a 47% higher agreement with statements about having more trust
in their company

Engagement: Employees in growth mindset culture of development
companies are 34% likelier to feel a sense of ownership and commitment to
the future of the company.

Innovation: Those in growth-mindset companies showed 65% stronger
agreement that their companies support risk-taking and 49% stronger
agreement that their organizations foster innovation.

Ethics: Those in growth mindset culture of development companies disagreed
41% more strongly than those in fixed mindset companies that their
organizations were rife with unethical behavior.



Friday, January 16, 2015

The Joy of the Gospel

Normally - I'm writing about technical aspects of my job or new technology, but this time I'm taking a step back because I am testing out my skills in reviewing a book. I've chosen to review "The Joy of the Gospel" by our wonderful Pope Francis.

Here is a brief summary of the book. I am looking forward to receiving it in the mail to review.

This special edition of Pope Francis's popular message of hope explores themes that are important for believers in the 21st century. Examining the many obstacles to faith and what can be done to overcome those hurdles, he emphasizes the importance of service to God and all his creation. Advocating for “the homeless, the addicted, refugees, indigenous peoples, the elderly who are increasingly isolated and abandoned,” the Holy Father shows us how to respond to poverty and current economic challenges that affect us locally and globally. Ultimately, Pope Francis demonstrates how to develop a more personal relationship with Jesus Christ, “to recognize the traces of God’s Spirit in events great and small.”

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

AdWords Script That Lets You Optimize Bids from Search Engine Land

Optimizing your keyword and ad group bids in order to maximize performance can be a tricky affair. Setting up a schedule to manage your bids is a great way to make sure that you’re not spending too much at the wrong times and more importantly that valuable traffic is getting to you at the right times.

AdWords’ built-in tool for modifying bids based on the time of day – ad scheduling — only allows you up to six bidding windows per day.

For large-scale accounts that demand a more granular approach, with bids that need to be changed every hour, the above limitations just won’t do. As an example, conversion rates for Domino’s vary dramatically during different hourly slots on different days; the company doesn’t want to bid at the same levels at 7:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m., and 11:00 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays.



http://searchengineland.com/adwords-bidding-thats-4-times-responsive-google-marin-kenshoo-207877