Google SEO tips

I'm learning new things on how to make your page SEO friendly. How to get ranking etc. I'm very sure what i know is not even a fraction of how google search works. But here's an interesting thing I learnt. When you search - results are listed based on your location. if you are competing in international market and your primary audience are US based then, there is a way to get results listed like how it it viewed by a user with US IP.

After the results are listed, in the address bar - at the end add &gl=us (google location = united states) like wise you can add relevant country shortforms 'ca -canada, au-australia, in-india'. You can get a sense of your competitors in specific to that market useful when it comes to adwords.

Useful links to PDF convertors, Screenshot capture tool

Here are some good links that I want to share with everyone.

Taking print screen from movie clip:
I wanted a software that will help me take screenshots from a movie file. Was testing a lot of freewares and finally found the solution in Frameshots. An awesome tool for taking screenshots from movie clips.

PDF convertor: If you want to convert any file to a pdf file just try primo it is super good. Uses print command to convert any file to a pdf file

PDF to word convertor: The freeware itself is called Free PDF to Word Doc convertor.

PDF split and merge: I had to include a wrapper design to a pdf user manual. The user manual had a wrapper design which was not very impressive. I used Adolix Split and Merge PDF. It was very intuitive. Was able to separate the wrapper from the existing pdf and included my design which was saved in the form of a pdf.

Inspirational site for some great color and layout ideas

Long time since I blogged. Official and personal work kept me totally busy. I have been working on some interesting things offlate. I will talk about it in detail when I get the time :).
But first do check out http://bestwebgallery.com/ I keep going to this side with no brief in mind. Whenever I feel stuck with design, layout, some radical idea this site does help. Some absolutely off beat ideas are there.

Post a comment if it was useful to you as well.

An awesome logo designing company

Here's one company I keep going back for logo inspiration
http://www.misipile.com/

Web designer opening - chennai

Here's a great chance to work with me ;)

I have an opening with the company I work for, check if your profile suits the requirement mentioned below
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Job Title: Senior Web Designer
Location: Chennai, India
Summary
3-5 years of design experience with a good portfolio to substantiate.
Job Description
This position forms an integral part of the creative team working on website related design work.
Job Requirements
- Proficiency in the latest versions of Adobe Photoshop, Image Ready, Flash, Dreamweaver.
- Working knowledge of print software like Corel Draw will be an added advantage.
- Ability to grasp and conceptualize design briefs and add original flavor to the designs
- Be accurate and succinct in communicating and presenting concepts, design ideas and actual design, in written and verbal forms
- Should be exposed to CSS concepts and be adept in htmlizing designs
- Exposure to usability, user interface design will be a big plus

Candidate should present their design portfolio for evaluation
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If you are interested in this opening send in your CVs to nmathu@gmail.com
Note: Please mention in the subject of the mail - 'Web designer profile'

Handling temporary Creative Block...

After a very long time I underwent a bad creative block last week (must be years since I had the last one)... I had to design a print collateral for our SaaS product. After getting the content and understanding the target audience for it, I started to design some layout and I realized all the options I tried working on projected some primitive design skills I had. I was left totally blank was not sure if it was a temp thing or I lost my creative abilities. It just went on for 2 days, I would keep staring at the monitor, try working on some layouts and end up doing options that reminded me of some design which I did years back.

I told to myself print is not your strength anymore... c'mon give up, face it.

I also noticed that not much of reference for print related work is available over the web (some tips were available but not that good to overcome a creative block). Then I took a break and moved on to chat up with a colleague, and was talking about this weird block I was having and then he suggested that probably a trip to a creative bookstore might help. That sounded interesting and I was in no frame of mind to think of anyother way too. The block already gave me a sleepless night.

And Voila! it did help. I found this awesome book "What is Typography?" by David Jury. From the name I assumed it should be a book about the basics of typography, font usage etc. Of course it was related to that but from a broader perspective I realized that getting back to basics after a long time opens new doors of creativity and better understanding of things.

Back at work it really helped me get over the block I was undergoing. I was able to churn out some good design options. To substantiate my feeling, here's what my boss said"Looks interesting."

I think the best part of these kind of blocks are, they are hurdles that inspire us to jump higher. Suddenly I feel like working on more print collaterals.

This book is a must read I strongly recomend it. Will post a soft copy of the design once they are sent for print.

cheers

Web based application UI - released

Hi,

Am back blogging after a longgggggg time... was waiting for this big day. Yes the UI I've been designing for the Enterprise Performance Management solution - Corporater Express has gone live.

Check out www.corporaterexpress.com , you can sign up for a free trial and experience the application. Shortly we'll be putting up guided tours and demos. It does require some amount of knowledge in scorecard management, scorecard building, performance dashboards etc. But I think the interface is quite intutitive. Do post you feedback.

And by the way even the site was designed by me.