12/13/11

This past weekend a fire destroyed the home of an Arlington family, who have 2 children – a teenager and an infant. All of their belongings, as well as their family pet, were lost. They were able to escape the burning home with only the clothing on their backs. At present the family is staying with relatives. They are in need of help to both start the recovery process and to bring the holiday season to their children, as all gifts were lost.

The school has spoken extensively with the father, and has developed a list of immediate needs.

Clothing: 

Boy (age 13) – pants size 16, shirt youth large, shoes 9 1/2 and a winter jacket and under garments.
Infant (male) – 4 months old, wears 6 month old clothing; also need diapers, baby bottles, etc.
Parents – 30/31 waist and men’s large tops, and jackets

The 13 year old loves Legos and game type toys.

They have lost all furniture and the other items needed for daily living. If anyone has furniture, pots, pans, dishes, small appliances, silverware, clothing, etc, please consider donating them. Please also consider financial donations as well.

We know it is short notice and the holidays are a very busy time for us all, but anything you can do will help this family during their tremendous loss. Please contact me at malcom@chakery.com or by phone at 214-295-5550.

Post from: Dallas Web Design

ARLINGTON TX FAMILY STRUCK BY DISASTER NEEDS YOUR HELP

We are looking for an energetic and experienced developer skilled in WordPress and Joomla plugin and theme development. The successful candidate should show proven experience in developing using the WordPress and JOOMLA.

Skills should include:

Excellent PHP/Javascript development with an understanding of SQL
Building web applications/services with advanced functionality
Proven ability to work with the WordPress API and JOOMLA
Good communication skills
Experience using project management applications such as Basecamp by 37 Signals
Ability to function within a small time with tight deadlines
Working knowledge of linux systems administration and configuration

Graphic Designer

We are looking for a skilled designer with an eye for creating striking websites using WordPress. The successful candidate should have the ability to develop WordPress themes using the WordPress API. Skills should include:

Excellent web design skills
Some familiarity of PHP
Examples of design work (logos, print, WordPress themes, JOOMLA themes)
Understanding of User Interface design
Good communication skills
Ability to function within a small time with tight deadline

If you are interested please send us samples of  your work to chakery(@)gmail.com. Please include links to your best work.

Post from: Dallas Web Design

Hiring WordPress and Joomla Developers

1. Balance- A webpage should have visual interest. From colors and shapes to the sizes of your graphics and fonts, your website should encourage guests to interact without being distracting. This best accomplished by having a balanced appearance. You may chose a symmetrical  plan in which elements of your site are evenly spaced (e.g. a graphic on the left with text on the right) or perhaps you will opt for an asymmetrical plan in which unlike items of equal weight are used.  As you design your webpage, try several design layouts to find the one that encourages guests to stay.
2. Repetition- Sometimes referred to as rhythm, repetition is the use of a pattern that gives a consistency to your site. This rhythm makes it easier for your customers to understand. Having sudden changes in the patterns, size or spacing will create an exciting rhythm but may not impart the feeling you want for your company. Keep in mind the features of Gestalt-proximity, similarity, continuance, closure uniform correctness and 1+1=3 effects.
3. Emphasis- Often called dominance or the focal point, this is the element that lets people know who you are. Some ways it can be accomplished are through semantic markup, changing font sizes or images, the use of bold black type for headings, contrasting colors, putting important info in a text box or written on a curve or by using an unusual font for the most vital information.
4. Proximity or Unity- Be sure elements are placed in such a way that they belong together. Use visual cues to let readers know an article is a unit-item near each other are related; those far apart are not. Unity can be established by consistent fonts, repetition of shapes, color or texture and thematic visuals of similar colors, sizes or shapes.

Using the principles is a must for having a website design that attracts and retains guest to your site. Each of these elements work together to create a site that is sure to encourage guests to spend some time getting to know you.

About the author

Founder and President of Chakery Design, Malcom Chakery has extensive knowledge and experience in the workings of a web based business operations. Possessing great amounts of expertise in regard to marketing, seo, web design and development, Malcom is extremely comfortable handling all details regarding the day-to-day operations as well as the sales and support of his many high profile clients. With a clear plan in place regarding operational procedures, all aspects of website design, seo, and promotional activities are managed and overseen by Malcom before they are completed. As a stickler for detail, Malcom believes in providing greater than expected support, superior customer service, and innovative programs, making sure to go above and beyond customer expectations. To learn more about Malcom and his companies please visit www.chakery.comor www.chakeryseo.com.

Post from: Dallas Web Design

The Elements of Web Design by Malcom Chakery

A recent report shows that there are as many as 7.5 million children under the age of 13 (5 million of which are under the age of 10). Ironically, (and I must say a bit naively) Facebook spokesperson, Bret Taylor, appeared to be surprised to find that there were so many under-aged Facebook users. Taylor stated, “That’s actually news to me, we don’t allow people to have accounts under the age of 13.”

In addition, apparently, Facebook believes that 100 content supervisors are enough to meet the needs of the 600 million FB users. Now let’s be realistic. How are these 100 going to monitor all that is being posted-from inappropriate content like bullying or comments that have offensive language? Does FB they really think that 100 people is enough?

“So what is the big deal?” you may ask. Consider this: With minimal protection available for the average Facebook user, the preteens (as well as everyone else) are a predator’s playground. With just a few keystrokes and a basic understanding of geotags, a child molester, rapist, etcetera can learn where you live, what activities you enjoy, what school they go to, and many other pieces of personal information.

“Facebook was never intended for kids younger than 13,” she says. “Kids click on things. Which can be a problem, not just with friending people, but also the malware they pick up online.”

As it is not required that one use a real photo or legitimate name, your child may unwittingly interact/befriend a predator, thus bringing them into the safety of your home. More disconcerting, is that a recent poll showed that only 18% of parents had “friended” their children on Facebook, so they have no idea what type of online company or comments their children are exposed to.

Another reason that children should not be on Facebook, is the ads, the adult innuendos and other inappropriate comments that get made. Yes, these issues are a part of life (unfortunately) but that doesn’t mean young children should be exposed to them!

Facebook is a great tool with much potential. But like drinking requires one to be at least 21 and being responsible for yourself, FB should be only used by people who are of the appropriate age and maturity….hmmm, is 13 old enough? Let the comments begin..

About the author

Founder and President of Chakery Design, Malcom Chakery has extensive knowledge and experience in the workings of a web based business operations. Possessing great amounts of expertise in regard to marketing, seo, web design and development, Malcom is extremely comfortable handling all details regarding the day-to-day operations as well as the sales and support of his many high profile clients. With a clear plan in place regarding operational procedures, all aspects of website design, seo, and promotional activities are managed and overseen by Malcom before they are completed. As a stickler for detail, Malcom believes in providing greater than expected support, superior customer service, and innovative programs, making sure to go above and beyond customer expectations. To learn more about Malcom and his companies please visit www.chakery.comor www.chakeryseo.com.

Post from: Dallas Web Design

Should Children be on Facebook

1. Provide quality content and services so that PageRank represents good quality sites linking to you. Remember, PR analyzes how many human generated links connect to your site.
2. Actively promote your site through social media, non-competitive sites and link bait so that you are actively letting people know about your website.
3. Be sure you have page titles that are interesting and accurate. They should have a title tag that tells both users and the Google search engine what each page is about.
4. Make sure your Metatag descriptions show a clear summary of what the page is about so Google will be better able to rank it.
5. Have a domain name and page URLS that are structured to convey content information easily.
6. Have an HTML sitemap on your website and use an XML sitemap file so users and Google can find all the pages of your site.
7. Make sure that Google is aware of your mobile sites, as soon as you have them.

Don’t play Hide and Seek with your website. If your site is difficult to find (or navigate once it is found), then your potential clients will soon become someone else’s customers. Use these 7 principles to make sure your site is “it”.

About the author

Founder and President of Chakery Design, Malcom Chakery has extensive knowledge and experience in the workings of a web based business operations. Possessing great amounts of expertise in regard to marketing, seo, web design and development, Malcom is extremely comfortable handling all details regarding the day-to-day operations as well as the sales and support of his many high profile clients. With a clear plan in place regarding operational procedures, all aspects of web design, seo, and promotional activities are managed and overseen by Malcom before they are completed. As a stickler for detail, Malcom believes in providing greater than expected support, superior customer service, and innovative programs, making sure to go above and beyond customer expectations. To learn more about Malcom and his companies please visit www.chakery.comor www.chakeryseo.com.

Post from: Dallas Web Design

Hide or Seek: 7 Steps to Ensuring People Find You On The Web

1. Plan a recommendation strategy- Be able to articulate why you need a recommendation, then approach those people who can help you with that element.
2. Have a balance- Get a mix of people to send/write recommendations-direct boss, peers, customer, vendors, organizations-as this will give future employers a well-rounded view of who you are.
3. Volunteerism demonstrates skills- Just because you are/weren’t paid for work you did, does not lesson the skill. If you had results for your volunteerism, don’t overlook the valuable recommendations. Volunteering lets people know you are willing to go the extra mile for something you believe in.
4. Choosing who to ask-Experts recommend that you wait at least 1 year after working somewhere/with someone before asking for a recommendation. In fact, you should know them well enough that you could write the recommendation yourself and they would sign it without any qualms. Also, if a person expects quid pro quo, ask someone else.
5. How many?-Ideally, 2 per job is great, especially if they highlight different aspects/ competency.
6. Curate your recommendations- When you ask for recommendations be sure to ask to review it before it is posted. One of the great things about sites like LinkedIn is that you can pick and choose which recommendations you want to be visible.

Whenever someone writes a recommendation for you, be sure to show your appreciation. Remember, they took timeout of their busy schedule to write something for you to help you better your resume. Be sure to say thanks.  This element is as important as all the rest.  So always do a good job, and then start collecting those important recommendations so you can improve your current work situation.

About the author

Founder and President of Chakery Design, Malcom Chakery has extensive knowledge and experience in the workings of a web based business operations. Possessing great amounts of expertise in regard to marketing, seo, web design and development, Malcom is extremely comfortable handling all details regarding the day-to-day operations as well as the sales and support of his many high profile clients. With a clear plan in place regarding operational procedures, all aspects of web design, seo, and promotional activities are managed and overseen by Malcom before they are completed. As a stickler for detail, Malcom believes in providing greater than expected support, superior customer service, and innovative programs, making sure to go above and beyond customer expectations. To learn more about Malcom and his companies please visit www.chakery.com or www.chakeryseo.com.

Post from: Dallas Web Design

Asking for an Online Recommendation

For several years, Dunkin’ Donuts had a rather generic website that served as the go to place for all information on Dunkin’ Donuts. And while the site had great information about Dunkin’ Donuts  from a national viewpoint, there was little information regarding the local shops. However, not too long ago this lack of local focus changed.

The new site was inspired by feedback from Facebook fans who wanted to know more about what is going on at their local Dunkin’ Donuts store. The result is that Dunkin’ Donuts redesigned their site to meet this interest and made it available via Google Local to both the standard PC and their mobile devices. To learn what is happening at your local store, simply enter in your zip code or use the GPS function on your smartphone. This local feature also allows you to keep up with store openings, hours and ultimately, special promotions.

In addition, Dunkin’ Donuts has also added a blog and is streaming content from feeds on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. To make Dunkin Donuts more appealing to the health conscious consumer, the company has also added an “eating smart” menu along with an assortment of iced coffees around the holidays.

Dunkin Donut’s move to being a Google Local site is one that many businesses are making. After all, when your business is listed on Google Local you have an even larger customer base resulting in more consumer awareness and ultimately higher revenue. If you are interested in joining Dunkin Donuts and many other businesses by having a customized Goggle Local site, be sure to talk to the professionals at Chakery Design. We will be glad to talk to you and help you determine how to make the most of a Google Local site for your company.

About the author

Founder and President of Chakery Design, Malcom Chakery has extensive knowledge and experience in the workings of a web based business operations. Possessing great amounts of expertise in regard to marketing, seo, web design and development, Malcom is extremely comfortable handling all details regarding the day-to-day operations as well as the sales and support of his many high profile clients. With a clear plan in place regarding operational procedures, all aspects of web design, seo, and promotional activities are managed and overseen by Malcom before they are completed. As a stickler for detail, Malcom believes in providing greater than expected support, superior customer service, and innovative programs, making sure to go above and beyond customer expectations. To learn more about Malcom and his companies please visit www.chakery.com or www.chakeryseo.com.

Post from: Dallas Web Design

Time to Make the Doughnuts: Dunkin’ Donuts Goes Local

The use of social media as a way to market your business has become common knowledge for most. After all, social media allows one to develop clientele all around the globe-even if you don’t have a passport. However, there is more to social media than simply having an account and posting the occasional comment. Plus, some sites are viewed as better than others for business use, so you want to be sure to do all you can to take advantage of this potential. As such, one of the best sites available for promoting your business is Twitter.

Given that Twitter has a global community with a billion tweets per week, you want to do all you can to post items that catch people’s attention and keep it focused on you. So, here are several things you can do to ensure that your Twitter account is being used to its full business potential.

1. Keep it Visual-A picture says a thousand words and since Twitter only allows 140 characters, using pictures on your Twitter stream adds a new level of interest and lets your followers have a glimpse into the world of your company.
2. Find inspiration-Follow tweets of other tweeters and when you have a day when the words just won’t come to you, retweet comments of others-especially those tweets that refer to your business. This retweeting will double as customer reviews and also empower followers by emphasizing their importance to you.
3. Get physical-Social media, for all its ability to connect people, can sometimes lack developing a real relationship, save that of the online persona. One of the best ways to use social media to connect with your clients is by responding to their tweets.
4. Get personal-Share stories about your company, lessons learned or even congratulatory comments when your customers share personal events or accomplishments.
5. Be smart- Be sure that in addition to pictures, retweets and stories that you post that you also give your followers a reason to follow. These incentives may be sneak peeks of new items, Twitter follower exclusives, special coupons, promos, contests or any other method that encourages followers.

Kick up your Twitter stream with these simple tips. You will be pleasantly pleased with how your business, as well as your number of Twitter followers, will grow.

About the author

Founder and President of Chakery Design, Malcom Chakery has extensive knowledge and experience in the workings of a web based business operations. Possessing great amounts of expertise in regard to marketing, seo, web design and development, Malcom is extremely comfortable handling all details regarding the day-to-day operations as well as the sales and support of his many high profile clients. With a clear plan in place regarding operational procedures, all aspects of web design, seo, and promotional activities are managed and overseen by Malcom before they are completed. As a stickler for detail, Malcom believes in providing greater than expected support, superior customer service, and innovative programs, making sure to go above and beyond customer expectations. To learn more about Malcom and his companies please visit www.chakery.com or www.chakeryseo.com.

Post from: Dallas Web Design

Keeping Your Twitter Stream Exciting

The  moral of the story is if you are trusting an online site with your photos make sure that you have those images backed up somewhere. Not just on your computer because a hard drive can and will crash. Back them up on a CD/DVD or a Thumb Drive. Thumb Drives have come down in cost significantly. If you are internet savvy try to figure out a way to have your images hosted on your own server or your own network so that you don’t have to depend on someone else’s network availability and security. Also in this day and age Flickr is also known for Geo Tagging images…Geotagging is defined by adding your personal location information to things like a photo.
So here is an example. You take a picture of your family at your home during Christmas morning showing everyone the new iPad2 and the brand new Sony Big Screen TV that you got for Christmas and you upload it to Flickr. What you didn’t know is that it was Geo Tagged and that it gave the exact latitude and longitude and the time the picture was taken and the type of camera used of course. It might look something like this.

GPS Latitude                    : 57 deg 38' 56.83" N
GPS Longitude                   : 10 deg 24' 26.79" E
GPS Position                    : 57 deg 38' 56.83" N, 10 deg 24' 26.79" E

Just make sure you set your settings to have Geo Tagging off  if of course you do not want to have your private information out there for the world to see. Because in the case I described above. A criminal with a computer no longer has to go door to door he simply has to go to flickr, facebook, or twitter and look for the right victim and look through the images and see what the data looks like in the images and see how far it might take him. Take a look at the image below where Flickr is asking me to renew. I have all of my images backed up of course so I have no need whatsoever to renew.

Post from: Dallas Web Design

Things You Need To Know About Flickr

Before, you call the website designer consider this: Does the website look old and boring because you look at it every day or do you really feel that some upgrades are  a must? Remember, while you may think that the site lacks something it may simply be because you see it all the time.

However, if you look at your website and feel it needs to be improved or have more Findability, then take some time to note what elements of your site are working well, keeping in mind the following:

Take emotions out of the equation! When it comes to evaluating your website, be sure you look at “Just the facts.”  Marketing guru Orvel Ray Wilson says, “Just about the time you are ready to throw up when you use your brand one more time, that is when your audience starts remembering and connecting to it.” If what you are doing is working and attracting customers, then it might be best to leave it alone!

When determining if a change to your webpage is necessary, don’t overlook the tools at your disposal. Run your site through tools such as Sitetuners.com’s Tuning Engine, the Google’s Website Optimizer or their Analytics tool and see how your site ranks. If everything is high, then leave your site alone. However, if there are a number of bounce-backs, a lessening of social media traffic, a decrease in time spent on site, then change may be in order.

If change is needed, create the new version of your homepage while saving a copy of the old one.  Put the new one in active rotation and do a split test. Use analytics to see which page gives you more desirable results. Once the data shows which page is more effective make any other changes based on the information gleaned.

Not every website needs to be updated-especially if all is going well. You want your website to have Findability and if changes will not improve this, then don’t fix what isn’t broken.

About the author

Founder and President of Chakery Design, Malcom Chakery has extensive knowledge and experience in the workings of a web based business operations. Possessing great amounts of expertise in regard to marketing, seo, web design and development, Malcom is extremely comfortable handling all details regarding the day-to-day operations as well as the sales and support of his many high profile clients. With a clear plan in place regarding operational procedures, all aspects of web design, seo, and promotional activities are managed and overseen by Malcom before they are completed. As a stickler for detail, Malcom believes in providing greater than expected support, superior customer service, and innovative programs, making sure to go above and beyond customer expectations. To learn more about Malcom and his companies please visit www.chakery.com orwww.chakeryseo.com.

Post from: Dallas Web Design

If it’s not Broken-Don’t Fix it! Does Your Website have Findability?