We're honored to have been selected to design a new website for Double A Audio's new album release: 'Double A Buffet'. As the name implies Double A Buffet contains a wide variety of songs and, as such, the website required flexibility for visitors to purchase one song, or an entire album. In addition, Double A Audio wanted to allow visitors to sample each of the songs as a way of offering a preview of musical genre before making a decision to purchase. Read More

Please take an opportunity to view the funeral invitation for Internet Explorer 6. Aten Design Group is hosting a "funeral" for the developer-hated browser at 7pm on March 4th, 2010. These guys are taking it so serious that more than 100 individuals are actually going to dress in black and are going to eulogize about the incredibly frustrating past times spent hacking well-written code to perform on the non-standards-compliant web browser. Take a look at some of the hilarious comments left by those who chose to leave "memories" of the browser. We're with the rest of the web design and development world in saying good riddance! (even though we'll all reluctantly admit that we will still have to destroy our well-written code to work in IE6 as it's still proven to be a widely used browser (we have no idea why)). Read More

We did it! We met goal one of our Facebook page fan base - 100 fans (101 to be exact). A huge thank you to all of our current and future supporters! Your patronage to Studio RTP has provided us with the ability to participate in partnerships to improve our services, and engage in opportunities to give back to the community and make contributions to the environment. Read More

Part of the excitement of being a web designer and developer is working with a client that shares the enthusiasm. To find a designer, you should carefully selecting a designer that has a strong portfolio and wants to work with you as a partner to develop a solution that meets the objectives YOU seek for YOUR company. Finding a designer isn’t always easy, especially when you are looking for one who will let the client participate in the process. Although an experienced designer will offer useful advice and suggestions, don’t let a firm dictate what you want. Decide what you would like to accomplish for your business, and then ask a designer how they can work with you to develop an innovative solution that takes advantage of the latest web technologies and design and marketing trends. Read More

My wife and I were so inspired by our recent honeymoon in Hawaii that we decided to make our annual contribution, for our One Percent for the Planet membership, to two non-profit organizations in Hawaii. Read More

There have been many resources that discuss the complex nature of the status of designers having the opportunity to use more than just the standard web fonts. To give a brief review, here are some of the issues at hand: Read More

HubSpot is offering a free webinar to help teach how to harness the power of social media - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other networking sites - to get found by more prospects and generate sales leads for your business. Social media can be a powerful channel to attract website visitors and leads while building thought leadership for your company. Click Here to Register. Read More

1. Make a commitment and stick to it.

   Far to often companies make the decision to “go for it” with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Their initial intentions are good, but then they sort of let the motivation subside. You’ll notice great, resourceful articles posted almost daily and then that reduces to one post a month followed by none at all. Utilizing the free tools and features of the social networking tools is a great idea, but if you decide to do it, be sure and see it through.

2. Be transparent.

   If your main purpose is to make a direct sale, this isn’t the place. These tools can be a great resource to facilitate a sale, but not a place to directly sell. If you use this as a way to interrupt people on their day to day lives without providing any interesting or useful information - you will lose your following almost immediately. I’m sure if you ask around, you won’t find anyone who has purchased anything from a company directly off of Twitter. More than likely, the company offered something resourceful (like a Top 5 list) and they wondered around the site from there.

3. Don’t Over-Moderate.

   The whole purpose of using these tools is to engage other users (and potential customers) into interaction with your company. Obviously you don’t want to accept a comment that was written with malicious intent, but give your audience the ability to be creative. If they have something to offer up, don’t be afraid to post it. You never know what new ideas this may trigger from another follower or even yourself.

4. Beg for participation, comments, feedback, suggestions, etc.

   Social networking is a multi-channel device. As soon as you try to treat it as a way for you to distribute information or advertise, you are essentially removing the purpose of the tool and you will lose follower. Don’t treat your Facebook page, Twitter account or blog as a one-way road. Give your customers the opportunity to trade secrets, share ideas and be creative. Engagement with them is key.

5. Keep your postings short and concise.

   In this information rich day and age, people bore easily. Make your point, stay focused and keep the post short. If you have four thoughts, make four posts (each on a different day of course). It is a much better idea to keep the information you’re looking to share in small, easy-to-digest chunks rather than a rambling post about multiple thoughts. That being said, I’ll wrap this up!

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