How to Stay Close to the Top of Google for Designers and Artists

Posted on November 24, 2009 by itees

Recently, I had a new client call me about a book project. Whenever someone calls me, I always ask, how did you find me? It’s always important to hear about their search, whether word-of-mouth, print or online. In this case, she told me that she searched online for “book designer”, “layout designer”, and “book cover designer” in New Jersey. She said she searched quite a while and didn’t find any NJ book designers until she saw my website. It bothered me right away that it had taken her so long to find me, and I immediately realized my “book” design page needed updating.

I changed the title tag as well as the keywords in hopes that it will now turn up on Yahoo and Google faster. Each page of a website or blog has a page name, searchable keywords, a description, a title tag and may have other tags as well. Blogs also have many tags, and searchable words and links, which is what makes them so search engine friendly. Blogs also get updated almost daily which is what keeps their content fresh.

The problem we face as designers, rather than bloggers, is that our sites are mostly images because we’re displaying our work. The best thing we can do to make these gallery pages search engine friendly, is to name the pages something very specific, such as: green-book-publishing-designs(dot)html. We also need to update the pages of our website often, so the published date is current, and make sure the tags are specific and in order of importance. You can also put in some captions or put tags on the images. You might also create a few pages that are text content rich, and these pages may help send traffic also.

Another tip is, never leave a word space when naming a page. I see this all the time. For ex: green book publishing designs(dot) html. You must use either green-books or green_books (dash or underscore). The web does not understand an empty space, and will fill it with a (20%) and then your page title will look like this, green20%books.

Always remember that the internet is like a gigantic filing system, and the most current and the closest match to your search is what comes up, so update your sites and blogs often, and be as specific as possible.

Sugar Paper, a sweet idea for tree lovers

Posted on October 9, 2009 by itees

In reading about alternatives to paper made from trees, I’ve come across paper made from sugar fibrous residue which remains after sugarcane or sorghum stalks are crushed to extract their juice, known as Bagasse pulp. It is currently used as a renewable resource in the manufacture of pulp and paper products and building materials.

Sugar paper is susceptible to humidity for paper, and heat for cups and utensils (heat can cause them to stick together).

From Wikipedia:

“Around 5%-10% of paper production worldwide is produced from agricultural crops, valuing agricultural paper production at between $5 billion and $10 billion. The most notable of these agricultural crops are wheat straw and bagasse. Paper production is the second largest revenue stream from bagasse after electricity cogeneration; higher than ethanol. Using agriculatural crops rather than wood has the advantage of reducing deforestation. Bagasse has the added advantage in that it requires fewer greenhouse gases to collect, compared to harvesting of wood chips, as the fibre has already been transported to the factory for extracting the sugar. Due to the ease with which bagasse can be chemically pulped, bagasse requires less bleaching chemicals than wood pulp to achieve a bright, white sheet of paper. The fibers vary in length depending on the country and cane variety but are typically about 1.3mm to 1.7 mm long. Bagasse fibers are well suited for tissue, corrugating medium, newsprint, and writing paper.

Bagasse pulp and paper mills tend to be smaller than wood based mills although many world-scale factories exist, notably TNPL (Tamil Nadu, India) Century Pulp and Paper (India) and Ledesma Paper (Argentina).

From the site, WorldCentric.org:
(http://worldcentric.org/sustainability/manufacturing/bagasse)

From this site: Propal, S.A.(www.propal.com.co) If you need the text of this site translated into English, google has a great translation tool. (google translator)

Paper made from sugar cane fiber is listed internationally as “Friends of Nature” as its raw material, sugar cane bagasse, a byproduct of the sugar industry, rolling over short periods of time. Through the process of developing this fiber paper reduces solid waste and produces a fine paper, biodegradable and recyclable. For the quality of the papers and the environmental benefits obtained, the sugarcane fiber alternative source is the increased demand in the world.

PROPAL corporate policy involves the preservation of the environment, meeting at its plants 1 and 2 with the control parameters set by the Ministry of Environment, the Regional Autonomous Corporations and other relevant administrative bodies, making good use and reuse of natural resources.

“Paper made from sugar cane fiber is listed internationally as “Friends of Nature” as its raw material, sugar cane bagasse, a byproduct of the sugar industry, rolling over short periods of time. Through the process of developing this fiber paper reduces solid waste and produces a fine paper, biodegradable and recyclable. For the quality of the papers and the environmental benefits obtained, the sugarcane fiber alternative source is the increased demand in the world.”

Sample product using Bagasse:

Bicycle books by David Burne & Jeff Mapes

Posted on September 24, 2009 by itees

I’m thrilled to report about the fastest selling book from Oregon State University Press, “Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities, by Jeff Mapes.” I’m going to pick this up! (amazon link)

Artist and musician David Burne, (link to his blog) wrote about this book, in The New York Times Book Review last week. (NY Times article) Byrne, a bicycle enthusiast has his own book, “Bicycle Diaries” due out in September. (NY Times article) (I’ll get this one too!)

From the NY Times article about “Pedaling Revolution”

David Byrne writes: “…But the book is useful — for those of us who occasionally find ourselves on the defensive, Mapes provides names, dates, facts and figures. He details how cities from Amsterdam to Paris to New York to Davis, Calif., have developed policies encouraging cycling in recent decades, and how other towns are just beginning to make way for bikes…”

From the NY Times article about “Bicycle Diaries”

“…Mr. Byrne’s travelogue uses a bicyclist’s perspective — “faster than a walk, slower than a train, often slightly higher than a person” — to take us from his home in New York City and around the United States, as well as to Berlin, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Manila, Sydney and London, stops on the tours he has made in support of his musical and art careers…”

As I’ve written in a previous post, I just love to ride my bicycle, and not just on the “Greenway” in NYC, so these new books are on my reading list. Thanks to David Byrne and Jeff Mapes for writing on this subject. I hope it will make an impact on people who haven’t yet gotten on a bicycle, but will now.