PixelMEDIA Inc.

So I was asked to write a year in review of 2009.  I was challenged trying to remember all the “awful” things that happened due to the worst recession since the depression, chaos in the financial markets, and a stock market that was about 30-40% off its peak.  These things are usually a recipe for the three most common things we hear when we are having challenges closing new business – “The proposal is sitting on the CFO’s desk”, “I cannot approve that amount like a used to”, and “That person does not work here anymore.”   So, yes, we did have a few of those, but that did not deter us from pushing forward in spite of these challenges. Read More…

Staying productive while offering stellar customer service and support

Most web developers prefer to work behind the scenes, while an account manager handles day-to-day contact with clients.  Chances are, this is exactly why they have chosen to be a developer and not an account manager.  However, for small agencies and organizations, it’s not uncommon for developers to take on both roles.  Developer gets request; developer develops; developer stages; developer emails client; client sends approval; developer pushes live.  There’s a unique rhythm to the entire process and developers will quickly learn the rewards and challenges of wearing both hats.

Client-facing developers have the opportunity to interact on a personal level with their clients, and the challenge of juggling project management and development work simultaneously.  It’s truly a remarkable skill, especially if you provide your clients with on-demand support and handle a large volume of work everyday.

Here are some tips for the client-facing developer to maintain efficiency while delivering stellar customer service and support (these are also applicable to Account Managers and Project Managers): Read More…

Business Challenge
Logica is a global solutions company providing management and IT consulting, systems integration, and outsourcing services. They offer 29 localized country websites in 19 languages with staff at each location to manage their respective content. With numerous geographically distributed editors each maintaining their regional sites, the global IT staff was facing a growing challenge with consistency. Logica needed a custom content management system (CMS) that would meet a host of needs:

• Integrate easily with their global web presence
• Establish and maintain brand consistency
• Ensure each site’s compliance with corporate Web standards
• Eliminate publishing and timing barriers across global and localized sites
• Provide better accountability and auditing tools
• Improve the efficiency of deploying Web content

Read More…

Google AdWords has recently added three new features to the paid platform. Two of the features are still in beta and only available to select advertisers, but all three help to bring better targeted ads to users. John A. Lee of The Clix Marketing PPC Blog does a good job of explaining these new features.

The new feature I am going to discuss is Ad Sitelinks.  Similar to the sitelinks you see in an organic listing, the paid Sitelinks allow four additional links to show within your ad.  Take the example below:

Read More…

As new plugins become available to developers every day, jQuery is quickly becoming one of the most popular javascript libraries.  jQuery is an easy solution for interactive development and a remarkable alternative to traditional flash-based components.  In fact, the versatility of jQuery is truly astounding and in many ways, makes it a much better alternative to Flash. 

Although jQuery isn’t known to be the best solution for 3-D and vector-based graphics, there are several other areas in which jQuery out-performs Flash. Read More…