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Blog Action Day 2008 – Tweeting Out Poverty

Selene M. Bowlby — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:00:37 +0000

As October 15th rolls around, it’s hard to be out and about on the internet and not run into topics relating to Blog Action Day‘s second annual event. Last year’s topic focused on The Environment… this year – Poverty.

Today thousands of bloggers will unite to discuss a single issue – poverty. We aim to raise awareness, initiate action and to shake the web!

An Overwhelming Issue

I knew that I wanted to participate in Blog Action Day again this year, but I admit I wasn’t quite sure how I could best contribute.

Poverty – both here in the United States as well as worldwide – is such a big issue. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a bigger surge of this in the US with the current economic crisis. Wordwide the problem is staggering.

According to Wikipedia, in 2005 there were over 100 million homeless people worldwide. 100 MILLION! In the United States alone in 2007 the number was just over 670 thousand homeless. I’m sure the numbers are even higher as we speak.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

As I struggled with what to write for my own post – I ran across a post from Michael Martin (@problogdesign on Twitter) of Pro Blog Design.

Of all the articles I’ve read today, I was particularly moved by this one:

Poverty in Pictures

A picture truly is worth a thousand words. One thing to speak of poverty but to actually visualize it – especially in poor innocent children – brings the thought to a whole other level.

The photos Michael features from Flickr pull at your heartstrings, and are actually the reason I felt the need to participate this year.

No Gesture Is Too Small

A designer himself, Michael seemed to be having the same problem I did… how to portray the topic in a meaningful way. As he expresses:

There are far better writers than me out there
who will write better posts than I could.
But this is a design blog. And design talks.

These are my sentiments exactly. I wanted to honor the day, but almost didn’t participate because I didn’t feel that what I could write on the topic would do the issue any true justice.

Of course, this line of thinking couldn’t be any further from the truth. ANY acknowledgement of the huge issue of poverty – both here in the US and throughout the world – helps raise awareness.

If one person comes across this post and becomes more aware of the problem, donates to the cause, writes their own post, etc. well that in itself will help, even if just a little.

Kind of like “pass it on” or “pay it forward” – each action that we take, as small as it may be, will help.

Tweeting Out Poverty

Without a true post of my own, I wanted to show how powerful social media can be. On the Blog Action Day web site, at this very moment there have been well over 12,000 web sites to break their normal posting schedule to write about Poverty.

I’m one of many people addicted to Twitter and you can’t help but notice the outpouring of posts referencing Blog Action Day or #BAD08.

Blog Action Day Link Love via Twitter

I’d like to share with you a few of the great posts written by my own Twitter friends. Please take some time to read the posts, leave your comments and if you are feeling inspired maybe even publish a post of your own!

Of course, I have to say thank you to everyone below for participating in my little social media experiment!

Blog Action Day - @blogactionday
Blog Action Day (official web site)
Cory O’Brien - @CoryOBrien
It’s Blog Action Day: Poverty
Doug Cloud - @dcloud
Poverty of the Heart
Janet Fouts - @jfouts
Take Action Against Poverty
Jennae Petersen - @greenyourdecor
Blog Action Day – Fight Poverty with Your Wallet
Katja Presnal - @KatjaPresnal
One Voice One Dollar – Fight Against Poverty
Kim Woodbridge - @kwbridge
Support Train for Humanity – Blog Action Day 08 – Poverty
Michael Martine - @remarkablogger
Blog Action Day: Fight Poverty by Registering for the Blog Traffic Seminar and I’ll Donate up to $800
Money Matters - @moneymatters
Blog Action Day 2008: Poverty

Keep Sharing The Love

If you’ve participated in Blog Action Day 2008, I hope you’ll share in the Link Love by linking to your own post in the comments below.

Even better yet – if there was an article you read or photo you saw today that particularly moved you, please share with everyone below.

You can also help spread the love by participating in social bookmarking through sites like Delicious, StumbleUpon, Digg, etc. – sharing social votes for the articles you’ve read today on Poverty make it that much more likely for that post to be read by someone else.

So please share the love and support the cause – together we can make a mark on Poverty.

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month – Go Pink for October

Selene M. Bowlby — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:23:41 +0000

October 1st marks the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness month.
As you’re out and about on the internet today, you might notice things looking a bit rosy colored – this blog included!

It’s all part of a movement called Pink for October.

Web sites will Go Pink during the month of October to bring attention to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, get people talking about breast cancer, and raise money for research.

Go Pink for October

It’s all about education and letting people know about Breast Cancer. If you can spread the word, go pink, donate, join a walk, etc. – anything you can do will help support the cause!

I know many of you reading are web designers and web developers and know you’re way around some XHTML and CSS. If that’s the case, consider turning your web site pink for the month, to show your support.

Even if you’re not a designer / developer, you can still go pink! If you’re running a web site or blog on WordPress it’s not too difficult to find a free pink theme, such as:

If you do end up turning your web site pink this month, be sure to submit your site to this years list of sites that went pink in 2008.

More Pink

In addition to turning my site pink, I’ve also designed a banner ad that you can grab from the Pink for October downloads page (there are many other great banner ads to choose from that you can place on your site, as well).

I’m also sponsoring a prize in the Pink for October Contest. There are lots of great prizes so be sure to check out the contest page and participate!

Close to Home

So many people have been affected by breast cancer – whether personally or through a friend or relative.

I’ve had my own scares in the past so I can’t stress enough the importance of screening – both through breast self-exams as well as regular doctor visits. I know first hand how frightening finding a breast lump can be – you are filled with questions and worries as you wait for a diagnosis.

Fortunately 80% of breast lumps are benign – and I’m so thankful that mine were among that group.

Not Just for Women

Many people are surprised to learn that this disease does not affect women alone – men can also be diagnosed with (or die from) breast cancer.

Just a few of the staggering facts from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure web site:

An estimated 182,460 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to occur among women in the United States during 2008
An estimated 40,480 women will die from breast cancer
It is estimated that 1,990 men will be diagnosed and 450 men will die of breast cancer during 2008
In addition to invasive breast cancer, 67,770 new cases of in situ breast cancer are expected to occur among women in 2008. Of these, approximately 85 percent will be ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)

Learn More About Breast Cancer

The most important thing you can do this month is learn and share as much information as possible about Breast Cancer. Find out some of the statistics, find out about prevention with regular screenings, find out about diagnosis and treatment.

Find out how YOU can help!

You can learn more about Breast Cancer, and better yet – support the cause by visiting the web sites below:

RSS Awareness Day

Selene M. Bowlby — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:29:53 +0000

Not many people are aware of this, but May 1st is
RSS Awareness Day!

Although blogging has become very popular in recent years, there are many people who do not know the first thing about RSS and feed readers. The quick explanation from RSSDay.org:

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a format used to deliver information from websites and pages that get updated regularly. An RSS document (which is called feed) contains either a summary or the full content
from a website.

For the fun (and more informative answer), I hope you will watch the video above, created by The CommonCraft Show.

Do You Know About RSS?

Is this old news to you, or are you new to the world of blogging and RSS / Feed Readers? If you’re an old pro, what is your favorite feed reader? I personally use and love Netvibes.

Other popular RSS readers include My Yahoo, Google Reader and Bloglines to name a few.

Please comment below, and spread the word about RSS Awareness Day on your own web site or blog! While you’re at it, feel free to dip into the world of RSS by subscribing to my feed.

GhostBlogging.net – Bloggers: Meet Writers

Selene M. Bowlby — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:25:57 +0000

It’s been a while since I shared a little link love post! This time around, I’d like to feature Ritu B. Pant’s latest venture: GhostBlogging.net. You might recognize some of Ritu’s writing on Freelance Folder, among other blogs.

What exactly is GhostBlogging.net?

You can call it a blogging job board. The main idea behind GhostBlogging is to provide a platform where bloggers and writers can meet. Most bloggers are looking for new writers to give their readers a fresh perspective, while other writers/bloggers are looking for a way to reach new audience. And this is exactly what this site will help you with – finding someone to write for you or a way to gain more exposure and reach by writing for someone else.

A Job Board with Advice

The primary focus of GhostBlogging.net is that it is a job board for bloggers to post blogging opportunities, and for writers to find work. It’s free for writers to apply for writing gigs, and only $10/month for bloggers to post their jobs.

GhostBlogging.net also runs it’s own blog with writing and blogging related advice. For example they offer a Weekday SEO Tip and Weekend Blogging Tip. The blog itself is very new, but already has some very informative posts. My two favorites so far…

In the blogging world, it is all about networking and getting yourself “out there” – the GhostBlogging.net blog will be sharing their perspective and insight to this side of the blogging world. I hope you’ll check out the site, as it is sure to have a little something for everyone.

Share the Link Love

Since GhostBlogging.net is so new, and they are trying to get the word out, they’re offering a bit of a link love promotion

GhostBlogging.net is offering a Review / Banner exchange, which is actually the basis for this post. It’s a win-win for everyone… you get your banner placed on their blog for 1 month; they get a post about them on your blog; and you get a fresh post idea, lol. I have to be honest, I’m doubtful I would have had a post prepared for today if it wasn’t for this one, so it workd out well, all around!

I’m not sure how long this offer stands – and I know spots are filling up quickly, so you might want to act on this now. If you’re interested, you can get more information here.

Guest / Ghost Blogging Anyone?

I’m still fairly new to blogging - only about 8 months into it - so I have yet to write any guest posts or invite anyone to write for my blog, etc. But this is becoming an increasingly popular option – one that brings extra traffic to both sides!

Have you guest blogged or had a guest blogger write for you? I’d love to hear your experiences with it! Better yet – have you had a good experience with GhostBlogging.net? I’d love to hear that too.

I must say that I like what I see on the site, and will definitely keep it in mind when I’m ready to bring in a fresh voice or two to this blog.

Blogger Appreciation Day (Unofficial)

Selene M. Bowlby — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:35:43 +0000

This morning, as I was checking out the latest posts from some of my favorite blogs, I saw a headline on ProBlogger that caught my eye… “Today is Blogger Appreciation Day [Unofficial]“

As the title suggests, this is an unofficial day – but I have a feeling that any blogging tradition started by Darren Rowse is very likely to catch on. I would not be surprised if this is an even bigger event – and possibly changed to [Official] – by next year as well.

From Darren:

Lets spend today doing a few random acts of kindness and encouragement for our fellow bloggers.

We’re in it together, blogging is about collaboration and together going further than we can by ourselves – so why not help another blogger today by shooting them a word of encouragement, a pep talk, a congratulations, an idea to help them improve or some other positive constructive message. Better still, do it publicly on your blog and tell the world about another blogger who you appreciate.

I was checking out a few of the posts, and noticed that a few people have taken this opportunity to thank some of the bloggers who have had a positive impact on them. I would like to do the same, as well!

In the past 8 months that I’ve been blogging, I’ve met some amazing people! A few in particular have done some amazing things for me, and I would love to thank them on Blogger Appreciation Day.

Shane of Shane and Peter Inc.

Shane is an amazing young entreperneur, offering his business insights on the Shane and Peter Inc. Blog. He’s accomplished so much and is only one year younger than I am (and goodness that sort of thing makes me feel old, lol). Shane has really helped bring out the entrepreneur in me!

I was simply amazed when he first found and commented on my original blog (little ole me?!?!?!) LOL. He offered some very kind comments and a huge boost of encouragement. I was honestly shocked that here’s this great business person (whose blog I had been following for some time) who somehow came across my blog – and thought it was good enough to leave a comment! This was back when the old blog was not even a month or two old.

Shane asked a few questions that really got my mind going – he has an certain way about communicating with other budding entrepreneurs… you get the sense that he honestly cares about find out your dreams and goals, and wants you to succeed!

Shane’s questions really gave me a big kick in the pants. I have him to thank for playing a large part in getting the ball rolling for me. So to kick off my version of Blogger Appreciation Day, Shane, I have to say Thank You!

Naomi of Itty Biz

This chick seriously rocks! Do you have a small business… a very, very small business, LOL? If so, you probably need marketing help, and Itty Biz is the place to go!

Naomi’s got a unique writing style – she tells it like it is, and isn’t afraid to use a few expletives in the process. I literally laugh out loud reading many of her posts – but they are not just funny, they are incredibly informative, as well.

I bought Naomi’s Itty Bitty package a few months ago, and all I can say is WOW! I can’t remember being as excited about my business as when I got off the phone with Naomi! I had some initial plans and ideas, but Naomi helped set me in a new direction – one I must say is working amazingly well so far!

I had a great phone consultation with Naomi, with follow-up emails throughout the re-design of my primary business site, and this blog. Heck, she had such great info, I came back for a second Itty Bitty package. Naomi, you’ve given me such amazing advice and direction, etc, that I have to say Thank You!

Wendy of eMoms at Home

Wendy offers great business advice for work at home mom’s and dad’s on the eMoms at Home blogging network. Well – I should re-phrase that… Wendy offers great business advice for small business owners and entrepreneurs period – regardless of their parenting status.

Wendy is in the process of re-branding her web site, as she’s realized that a large portion of her audience are not just parents. I don’t envy her on the re-branding – it’s certainly NOT an easy task… especially with a blogging network as large as eMoms at Home is!

Wendy is great about sharing the love with other small business owners. We’ve been following each other on Twitter for a while now… Shortly before the re-launch of my current web site, Wendy and I had a great little conversation… and by little, I mean 140 characters at a time or less, LOL.

I had been having questions and doubts about the direction this blog should take. I needed a bit of a nudge, and Wendy was there for me. She gave me the little pep talk that I needed to follow through on the same direction that Shane and Naomi had been nudging me towards as well. So to you, Wendy, I must say Thank You!

Jon of Freelance Folder

Jon is awesome! He’s the go-to social bookmarking guy, LOL. I had been reading Freelance Folder for a while, but first found a connection with Jon through StumbleUpon when I noticed that he bookmarked a post from my original blog. I thought that was pretty cool, since well, it was an itty bitty little blog (I swear I didn’t say that on purpose, Naomi, LOL).

Jon and I have since emailed and connected on Twitter, etc. – especially since the launch of this blog last month. This blog started out with a very small following – 20 people came over from the old blog (just about 50% of my original subscribers). It wasn’t long before I posted my article about the “6 Phases of the Web Design and Development Process.” I asked Jon if he wouldn’t mind submitting it to a couple of the social bookmarking sites (Digg or StumbleUpon – wherever!)

Little did I know, he submitted it to more than just a couple places, and it really caught on! 24 Diggs, 40 Likes on Stumble, 275 Saves on Del.icio.us… Wow! This one article has received well over 10,000 page views, and as a result I now have over 100 subscribers. Still a small number, but much larger than the original 20.

I’m still amazed by the number of comments, and trackbacks this article continues to receive. It even made the “Best of March…” lists on Smashing Magazine and Vandelay Web Design. I owe this 15 minutes of fame entirely to Jon. And for that, I must say Thank You!

Who Do You Want to Thank?

Who do you appreciate out there in the blogging world? Please spread the word about the (Unofficial for now…) Blogger Appreciation Day!

Please post a comment below, or on ProBlogger showing your appreciation for your favorite bloggers. Better yet – dedicate a post on your blog to the topic!

The Ultimate Blog Party!

Selene M. Bowlby — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 02:30:05 +0000

Welcome to the Party!

5 Minutes for Mom is hosting the Ultimate Blog Party this week,
March 7 – 14, 2008!

Sorry guys… it’s officially a party for the ladies, but you’re welcome to participate here if you like!

So far there are well over 1,000 blogs participating. Pretty fun actually – I’ve been surfing around to lots of new blogs that I otherwise wouldn’t have found.

A Little Bit About Me

I’m a WAHM (Work at Home Mom)… Mommy to a sweetheart of a 2 year old daughter. Though of course she has her moments… she is TWO after all, lol.

I’m a web designer working full time for an internet and graphic design company, as well as running my own web design and development company, iDesign Studios. Yes, I’m a web designer on both jobs… so this is obviously something that I love to do!

As any WAH Mom or Dad knows, it can get very hectic working from home, especially with a toddler running around underfoot. Let alone with basically two jobs… plus being a Mom is a job of it’s own, so maybe I should say that I have three jobs?

Luckily, my husband and I have been able to setup our work schedules so that we’re able to take turns with our daughter at home. I actually only have to work with her for two hours a week. Surprisingly she’s “usually” pretty good during those two hours! Not always, of course – there have been quite the tantrum from time to time, lol – but overall I must say that I have it good! We really do have a great system in place!

More about me on my insanely long biography and resume pages…

You Might Recognize One of My Designs…

See that banner up there? I made that!

Rose at From the Park Bench (a GREAT resource for Moms!) pointed me to the 5 Minutes for Mom web site and suggested that I enter the UBP Design Contest. I’m so glad she did, because I won the contest!

Amazingly enough – I won by one, yes 1, vote! That was quite the surprise and I’m thrilled to have won! Thanks again to everyone who voted! I know I had a lot of friends, family and blog readers in my corner – so Thank You!

Pull Up a Chair and Get Comfy!

Now that you’re here, I hope that you’ll take a look at my web site and check out my blog for a bit longer. I actually just re-designed the main site as well as this blog – I launched the new site last Friday. The blog is still in it’s “soft launch” phase… still a few more tweaks to make before I call it official. I’m planning on putting on the finishing touches by the end of the month.

The main web site gives lots of information on my web design services, shows off my web design portfolio, as well as answers a lot of questions about working with me. Although many items are applicable to working with web designers in general, so you might want to take a look at the FAQ if you are planning on any web design work in the future.

As for the blog, it focuses a lot on:

I’m all about link love, lol, and have featured lots of great web sites and blogs that I’ve come across on these topics. Basically anything that I’ve found to be helpful for myself and that I think would be helpful to other entrepreneurs – especially other work at home Mom’s and Dad’s.

And Now for the Prizes!

YES! There are prizes! If your a female blogger – mom or not – head on over to 5 Minutes for Mom to checkout the huge prize list! You might win one of them… and even if you don’t there are so many wonderful bloggers to meet!

There were so many to choose from, but my top three picks are:
(in order)

59 — $25 Cash
Provided by: Lori
55 — $23 Cash
Provided by: Kristin
60 — $25 Amazon.com Gift Certificate
Provided by: Judy

If all of those are taken, some others that I also like are:
(in this order)
39 — $20 Amazon.com Gift Certificate
Provided by: The Organized Knitting Club
140 —$20 Amazon.com Gift Certificate
Provided by: MommyDaddy Blog
129 — $15 Amazon.com Gift Certificate
Provided by: Mommy Cracked
58 — Customized 6 Week Fitness Plan
Provided By: Cindy Posey, Go Workout Mom
124 — Rachel Rays 2,4,6,8 Cookbook
Provided By: Kirstin at Loving Life
88 — Ethan Allen’s Style Book
Provided by: Southern Hospitality
36 — Marketing for Entrepreneurs
Provided by: Lis Garrett

Or anything of interest to a web designer, mom, or toddler (almost 3 year old) girl.

Come Say Hi!

If you found your way over here from 5 Minutes for Mom, or even if you didn’t and just want to join in on the fun… Please do make a comment below!

I’d love to know who is here and a little bit about you! I’d love to check out your web site or blog too, and would be happy to say “hey!” over on your site as well!

Thanks for visiting – I hope you enjoyed the party!

Soft Launch of New Blog!

Selene M. Bowlby — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 02:00:37 +0000

Welcome to my new blog… well, not so much new, but re-invented!

This is still unofficial – let’s just call it a soft launch. I’m very happy with it overall, but I realized this morning that there are some display issues with Safari on the PC, and apparently also on just about everything on a Mac.

Key phrase = soft launch… aka please pardon the dust!

Thanks Jon for pointing out the Mac issue as well! I’ve got a temporary fix, but it interferes with the footer. That’s secondary, though, so that will have to wait until tomorrow…

I’m pretty sure that I’ll end up spending a good amount of time troubleshooting that over the weekend. Hopefully it is a quicker fix than expected, though. It’s so strange… I’m used to IE being the one to cause me trouble.

Aside from the footer issue, there are a few minor design tweaks (font and spacing issues) that I’ll be updating over the weekend, as well. I’ve ported over many of the posts from the original blog, but still have a few more that I want to add to the mix, too. Overall, though, this is mostly finished.

And then there was one…

So, long story short, what I did was essentially merge all of my sites into one.

It was a bit much to keep up with three entirely separate web sites – the business web site vs personal web site vs personal blog. By the way… you can check out the new iDesign Studios web site here, and can read the announcement here.

Now, this blog is still technically separate from the main company web site that officially launched this morning. While the main site and blog share the same domain name, and the blog links back to the web site… the web site does not yet link to the blog.

Where this blog is headed…

So anyway, that being said, welcome again to the soft launch of my new blog! I will still be doing the link posts where I highlight great web sites, blogs and other resources that I come across when surfing the web. I won’t be posting on a schedule, which will be nice! I’ll just post as I find anything interesting that I think would be helpful to my readers.

I do also plan to write more original / quality posts this time around, as well. Initially, I will say at least 1-2 really good posts a month, though I would like it to be more frequent, at least once a week. We’ll see how that goes. You might just end up with a lot of rambly posts like this one for a while.

Overall, though, this blog will focus on topics relating to:

Can I have some feedback with that, please?

So, I have to say thank you for checking out my new web site and blog!

Please do let me know what you think of it all – both in terms of the design and layout, as well as content, etc. All feedback is greatly appreciated.

Yes, both positive and/or negative comments welcome!

I’m also curious on your thoughts as to whether or not the main web site should link back to this blog or not? What do you do for your own web site(s)?

And don’t forget to Subscribe!

With this being an introductory post to the new blog – and me currently being my only subscriber, LOL – I have to ask… if you followed me on the old blog, or just like what you see here so far, please Subscribe!

FREE subscriptions to this blog come in two lovely varieties:

LOL, you can’t blame a girl for trying, right?

Enhancing Your Comment Section and Other Blog Tweaking Tips

Selene M. Bowlby — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 02:00:49 +0000

I just launched the re-design of this blog last month, even though I didn’t feel it was 100% ready yet. In thinking of ways to enhance the blog, and make some tweaks to things such as the sidebar and footer, etc., I came across several very helpful posts on the subject.

There seems to be an unlimited number of things you can do to tweak your blog template. Suggestions to make it both more design and user friendly. I’ve already begun implementing a few of the tweaks, and can’t wait to work on some more.

Below are a few of my favorites. There are tons of great ideas for things to do, plugins to add, etc.

I hope you find these helpful – I certainly did!

Pro Blog Design
10 Best Plugins to Get More Comments

Pro Blog Design
How to Style Author Comments Differently

Pro Blog Design
Separating Trackbacks from Comments

Skelliewag
50 Tips to Unclutter Your Blog

Skelliewag
The Blog Usability Checklist

Are there any particular tips, tweaks or plugins that you can’t live without? Any major pet peeves – something you see in blogs that just shouldn’t be there?

Please do share your thoughts with the rest of us by posting a comment below!

Unique Blog Designs

Selene M. Bowlby — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 02:00:41 +0000

I just saw a list of bloggers who are going to be featured in Blogging the Movie over ath the eMoms at Home blog. I watched the teaser and the name of one of the blogs caught my eye… Nate Whitehall’s Unique Blog Designs.

I’m brand new to this blog, but I like what I’ve read so far. A few posts that immediately stood out to me…

5 Ways to Make Your Posts More Readable

5 Ways to Make Your Posts More Readable, Pt 2

What Does Your Header Image Say About You

5 Ways to Get Other Bloggers to Link to Your Posts

23 Things I’ve Learned After 7 Months and 500 RSS Subscribers

Nate has also has another web site where you can register (for FREE) to receive a PDF file which contains 5 Simple Tips to Improve Your Blog.

Thanks for the great tips, Nate! You’ve gained a new subscriber today.

Blog Action Day 2007 – The Environment

Selene M. Bowlby — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 04:00:28 +0000

I recently registered to participate in Blog Action Day, October 15th, 2007, Topic: The Environment

At the time that I registered a few weeks ago, there were just over 6,000 participants registered to blog about the Environment. The number is now currently well over 14,000 and still growing!

Thousands of Voices

It’s a really great concept… The idea behind Blog Action Day is that there will be thousands of people blogging about the same topic, all on the same day. You can basically blog about whatever you want in relation to the Environment as it relates to your blog and your readers.

In my case, I wanted to write about the benefits of electronic media (specifically the areas of web design) on the Environment…

The Benefits of Web Design on the Environment

I have never been one for paper clutter… I hate having a paper trail. Don’t get me wrong – I like keeping records, but I prefer electronic records. For example, I send out proposals, contracts and invoices to my clients as PDF files attached to emails, rather than via fax or snail mail. If my client wants to print it out, that’s no problem – but as far as I’m concerned… I just don’t want the clutter. It takes up valuable space in my relatively small office. And to look at the bigger picture – it doesn’t require trees.

As far as Web Design, well, think about it… the internet is the perfect place to help promote you business, cause, ideas, etc. all in electronic format. You can reach an unlimited audience without any effect on the environment. Well, I should correct that – you can reach an unlimited audience with a very positive effect on the environment.

A company is no longer required to spend large amounts of money printing out brochures, sell sheets and catalogs. They can place all of their information and products on the internet instead. Think about how many mini-catalogs you get in the mail – often times from companies you never signed up with. What usually happens to those catalogs? They typically either sit in a bin full of old catalogs that you did nothing more than take a quick glance at… or they go straight in the trash. At least that’s what happens in my house. What a waste, as far as I’m concerned… wasted paper (trees), wasted ink, wasted money. That same company will spend more money on an updated catalog just a few months later, to reflect new prices, products, etc…. just for it to end up in your junk mail pile that’s going to sit on the kitchen counter for a week. More wasted printing costs, more wasted paper.

What’s the alternative? An e-commerce driven web site. Yes, there is still cost on the end of the company as far as having to design and maintain the web site (similar to the cost for a graphic designer to design the print catalog). But with the web, you don’t have the additional print costs. Every time a product changes, just make a quick change online and bam, your set! No need to re-work an entire printed piece and run a new set of prints.

The same thing applies to general information about a company. What if you printed 5,000 brochures to send out about your company. Then you get a new Toll Free phone number, or move, or offer new services. What happens to any leftover brochures? Trash. Waste. This same company could update their web site in a matter of a few minutes to reflect the new contact information. If they were depending solely on print media, it would require updating the files for the brochure, and making another print run – more used trees.

Obviously I’m biased, since I am a web designer, but that’s just how I see it…