Stop right there. What are you reading right now? And no, I don’t mean this blog. Is it a captivating book, an enthralling article or maybe new book of poetry?
While some of us have dustier “to be read” piles than others, the HMA-ers are always reading something new and interesting. Since May is Get Caught Reading month, we decided share a few of our favorite and most recent reads.
Anytime I have the opportunity to get out of the office and learn, I jump on it. There’s just something very invigorating about stepping away from my computer, meeting new people and considering new ways of thinking. I always return with a notebook littered with starred action items, new book titles I must read and a brain oozing with new ideas. SES New York was no different this year.
We’ve all seen infographics before, in newspapers, magazines, and online. These little graphical messages that try to convince you to read them because they’re colorful and covered in interesting graphics or cartoons. So, you take a minute to glance over the infographic and then BAM! Before you know it you’ve learned something new, and suddenly you have a new little factoid stuck in your head to pull out at Tuesday night trivia. But are infographic effective, and, more importantly, do infographics effectively communicate your message?
The digital landscape is shifting. Predictions are rolling in that suggest mobile and tablet device usage will overtake desktop usage sometime between 2014-2015. Add a 55% increase in smartphone subscriptions in 2012, along with the penchant users seem to have for reading their information on the web rather than in apps, and you’ll understand why some businesses, like Harvard, Nike, Time, and Starbucks have already made the move to responsive design.
Why? Because designing a site that grants the ability to adapt to both the screen size and platform of the visiting user is an approach that addresses this growing mobile traffic. Specifically traffic that’s visiting your site.
This brings up the question—should you be considering responsive design for your website?
Have you ever gotten that nagging feeling–deep in the pit of your stomach–that someone, somewhere has developed a more efficient way of handling a time-consuming task than you?
Have you ever read something, only to come away from it convinced that it could apply to your everyday tasks– but lack a specific ability to implement it?
So is the existence of a newbie SEO/SEM professional. I can’t tell you how many times I have read a fascinating article, only to be left bewildered or perhaps utterly confused as to how on earth I am supposed to apply its “simple” steps to my own work.
It’s not every day you read a blog from a graphic designer at Howard Miller Associates. It’s not because we’re discouraged to write blogs, but more so because most designers aren’t very good writers. So, before you continue, reread the previous sentence.
Did you know the average time it takes to respond to an email is greater than the time it took to create the actual email? Think about it. You skim your inbox, decide on an email to open, open the email, read the email, decide how to respond to the email, write a response to the email, ask for someone’s opinion on the email, reread your response a few times, send the email and then finally get back into the flow of your work. It’s exhausting just thinking about the process.
We spend a lot of time at HMA serving others – collaborating to achieve the client’s goals, helping a client find the perfect gift for his wife’s birthday, training co-workers to understand SEO or develop media plans, and even volunteering our time and talent in the community. We foster a giving back culture that’s hopefully apparent in all we do. And in the spirit of gratitude and the holiday, Drew offered each of us $100 to give to a person or charity of our choice. Discover how the kindness warriors of HMA chose to donate their money this holiday.
They’re heeeeeeeeeeere…The holidays, that is!
At HMA, we take our holidays very seriously. After all, they remind us how fortunate we are to have an abundance of good people in our lives. Although most people immediately associate holiday season with family season, perhaps not as many include their “work families” in that equation. Here at Howard Miller Associates, however, it’s a different story.
A few weeks ago, I got a major wake-up call. Apparently, I am a male between the ages of 35-44 who is highly interested in Earth Sciences, Chemistry, Spreadsheet Software and Business Productivity. Talk about an unsettling way to start your day!
Last month during one of our weekly AdWords training sessions, our interactive marketing manager, Colleen Hofmann, provided everyone with a link to Google’s Ad Preference page. Here, you can review a summary of your “online demographics profile” that largely dictates the nature of the internet experience you will have throughout the course of the day.