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Ali Green

Connecting beyond social media

The telephone was created in 1876 and served as a means to transmit messages and enhance the power of speech. Almost 100 years later email was created by Ray Tomlinson in an effort to easily exchange messages with others. Heck, text messages were developed in the 90s as a quick messaging platform, not a substitute for talking on the phone. None of these tools were meant to replace conversation, rather they strengthened our relationships and extended our reach. Here at GreenMellen, we truly believe social media is a crucial tool for businesses to embrace in order to create relationships, establish credibility, and share your passion with the world; but that by no means should give you permission to disregard the power of a person-to-person relationship. In other words, it is important to remember that your social media efforts should not replace your communications strategy, but should enhance your relationships by adding another layer of connection between you […]

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Seasons Greetings

Looking back at 2012, there’s no denying that we have been extremely blessed in our endeavors to not only grow our company, but also to make a positive impact on the community around us. We are proud to say we have met many, if not all of our goals for 2012 and are looking forward to shooting for the stars in 2013. Thank you to those who have entrusted in our services. We feel so fortunate to work with such wonderful businesses and individuals and we look forward to continuing our relationship into the new year. Wishing you a very magical Holiday season and a fruitful 2013!

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How a logo is born

New clients typically inquire about logo development and are surprised to hear the detailed steps behind the resulting identity. Below is an overview of the process we go through here at GreenMellen to create a new logo for your company. Discovery Process The initial step is a “getting to know you” session where we will will discuss goals for your future brand and how your brand evolved to its current state, as well as details about your target audience, corporate structure, and company culture. Research & Brainstorming One we have an agreeable design direction, the research process begins. We take into account your competition, other identities that stand out to you, and trends in the market to trigger our creative juices. Sketches Sketching is the process that lets the mind purge ideas onto paper. Typically the first page of sketches will be cliché ideas that are crumpled and tossed into the trash […]

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GreenMellen featured on StudioPress

We always love to be recognized for the work we do. This time StudioPress has featured our very own GreenMellen website on their showcase gallery. StudioPress is one of our favorite tools for creating WordPress-based websites, and we are excited to be recognized as a showcase StudioPress website!

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2012 Web Trends

As we begin to drift into the final, chilly months of 2012, what better time to reflect on the trends that have made web design stand out this year? Below are five trends that have made a strong impact on websites this year. Responsive Design As noted in a past article, responsive web sites where born out of the idea that a website should be able to morph in width and layout depending on what device the site is being viewed on. With mobile web browsing increasing 69% since 2010, you can be guaranteed this 2012 trend isn’t going anywhere any time soon. WordPress WordPress has been around for quite some time now, but it really shined in 2012. Taking CMS to a whole new level, WordPress remains to be the best solution for no-hassle content management with solid SEO built right in. Full Size Background Photos Web designers have embraced a new […]

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Getting things done

Here at GreenMellen, we pride ourselves on our productivity, quick-turnarounds, and organization. Of course none of these qualities are achievable without an arsenal of tools that allow us to be that reliable resource for our clients. In this post, I will share with you the strategies, apps, and tips we have discovered over the years. Of course, we are always looking for new and improved options, so feel free to post a comment below about the tools you have come to confide in a well! Nozbe  :: Project Management There is no denying that we need an elaborate “to do list” that is able to keep up with the demands of our day-to-day tasks. We have tried several systems in search of  the perfect task management app, and continuously find ourselves going back to Nozbe. We loosely base our productivity strategy around the book, Getting Things Done by David Allen, which states that each actionable step in a project should […]

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15 questions to ask before you start a web project

“Hey, Ali. We need a website for our new start-up. How much do they cost?” Oh how I wish this was an easy question to answer. My typical short reply to this question is “…and I’m in the market for a new house. How much do they cost?” You see, like a house, each website we create is uniquely built to the needs of the client. Mickey recently wrote a post about how building a WordPress site is similar to building a house. In short, you must first determine where your house will be located, how many bedrooms and bathrooms you will need, if you’re willing to pay for upgrades such as granite countertops and hardwood floors, etc, etc, etc… With that in mind, there is quite an important discovery process that takes place before an estimate can be submitted. In this process we meet with the stakeholders that will be involved to learn […]

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Picture perfect social media profiles

As all the various social media platforms introduce their own versions of cover images, headers, avatars, etc. it’s getting very hard to keep up with all the different sizes! The following breakdown should help you create correctly sized images for all your social media accounts (all dimensions are measured in pixels): Facebook Profile – 160×160 Cover – 851×315 Twitter Profile – 128×128 Header – 1200×600 Background – The twitter background will show up differently at various resolutions. If you’re going full width, plan on sizing your background image to at least 640px, although ideally it should be around 1280×1024. Google+ Profile – 275×275 Cover – 940×180 (some cropping may occur) You can also display five thumbnail images in the cover photo area sized to 112×112 each. This is ideal if you want to show off a portfolio or several photos. Pinterest Avatar – 160×160

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How you know it’s time for a redesign

Technology is ever-changing and constantly presenting new features and opportunities for web design. A website that was designed 2-3 years ago may not offer the same benefits as newer sites do today. So how do you know when it’s time to start planning a redesign for your website? Below is a list of common some growing pains: Organization and Usability As your company changed over the past few years, your website was probably forced to adapt to these changes. Content may have been tweaked, your navigation structure was most likely altered, and pages may have been added or removed. Just as you are forced to reevaluate the organization of your company on a reoccurring basis, you too should take a step back to evaluate the organization of your website. Content When’s the last time you read the content on your website…like really read through EVERYTHING? You’re not alone. It’s very […]

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Dropbox vs Google Drive

For quite a while now, GreenMellen has used Dropbox as the backbone of it’s storage, backup, and file sharing needs. We have always enjoyed the ease and simplicity of sharing folders between team members and clients, and use it quite a bit. It also never phased us to spend a mere $9.99 / month to have a guaranteed backup of the files our livelihood depend on — chump change really, at least until Google released Google Drive. Google Drive was a Dropbox contender at the get-go. Cheaper plans (100GB of Dropbox storage now runs you $9.99, while it’s half that at Google), better compatibility with other Google products such as Docs, and some sweet Evernote-style Optical Character Recognition (OCR). This means, if you scanned a document containing with the word “Atlanta”, you can search Drive for “Atlanta” and should uncover that document. All very neat features worth considering, but when it comes down to it which app […]

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What’s all this talk about “usability”?

More and more you’re hearing words thrown around like “User Experience”, “Usability”, “UX”, and “Experience Design” — while these terms sound pretty basic, a lot goes into creating an online environment that visitors will easily interact with and navigate through. Below are several of the more important pieces of creating a solid user experience.   Check and double check all browsers   Unfortunately, websites don’t behave the same in all browsers. Things may be looking great in Chrome, but a sneaky bug may show up in Firefox or Internet Explorer. To ensure all users are receiving the same experience, be sure to double check all the popular browsers during the programming and testing process; these include Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer (if you must), and mobile browsers.   Use a strict color palate   Your website design will just feel better if you keep your color palette limited and consistent. Stay […]

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How I sold my house on facebook

We don’t typically go into detail about personal events on our blog, but something amazing recently happened in over at the Green household that I can’t help but share with you all… We sold our house in one week using facebook. Yes. you heard me right. One week — with no realtor in a market like THIS. How did we do it, you ask? Well, admittedly it helps that we have an amazing network of neighbors and friends who were happy to spread the word, but our only true medium for marketing was facebook. You see, I decided to go back to what I know best: websites, strong imagery, and social networking. Real estate is stuck in one of the biggest ruts of all time right now, and when this happens it takes a non-traditional route to break the mold. When selling your home via the traditional route, it becomes one of thousands of […]

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Creating “Pinnable” Images

There’s no denying that Pinterest is the new kid in town and has become the most popular thing since Danny Zuko and Ferris Bueller. In fact, Pinterest is reported to be generating 3.6 percent of referral traffic, with Twitter just ahead at 3.61. So how do you get in the cool kids club? Unfortunately, it’s all about looks (sorry, Screech Powers). The main appeal of Pinterest is that it lures you in with beautiful imagery, cute animals, and trendy DIY crafts. It’s a world that personifies the song, “My Favorite Things“. So while you’re getting wrapped up in all the pretty pictures, you may forget there is a powerful marketing tactic behind this new social media phenomenon. These “pretty pictures” all lead to trending content hiding behind them. For this reason, optimizing your site to showcase Pinterest-worthy images is more important than ever. The following infographic from Pinnable Business shows some of the best practices for sharing images on Pinterest, including […]

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Your brand starts with YOU

When somebody comes to us looking for a ‘new brand,’ our first question is not for our client, but for our client’s client: “What is the current perception of company XYZ? Is it reliable? Is it consistent? Is it approachable?” If they can’t answer one of these questions, we need to start somewhere deeper than designing a new logo — we need to start with emotion. So many people believe that a new logo can change the way the company is perceived by the public; when, in fact, the core of a good brand is consistency and evoking a positive emotion. For example, do you greet your customers the same way when they walk in your door? Does your voicemail message give a friendly and informative greeting? Do your emails have a consistent signature? Do you connect with people talking about your company on social media? Yes, a memorable brandmark, […]

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