Creative Juices, graphic design tips, creative news | Creative Juices Graphic Design Studio

QR-Codes May Change Your Life.

Download a QR-Code reader app on your mobile phone and read the secret message.

Bar codes are so yesterday. Now we have these new, two dimensional QR-codes. QR means Quick Response, termed by Denso Wave, because these codes are designed to be scanned electronically at a high speed. They originated in Japan and are spreading throughout Europe and now the US.

This is perfect for mobile phone applications. Just place the code on a printed ad, business card, your website, a T-shirt, sign, bus stop, or just about anyplace. Then point your phone, scan instantly and get the message. If you have an iPhone I recommend inigma for reading QR-codes. It’s free and works rather well for me.

The idea is to get people to visit your website. You can promote a sale or special event. Highlight a new service. Start a contest. Create buzz.

What can you place in a QR code? Your website’s URL, a special landing page to promote a new service, telephone numbers, text messages, Vcard, or e-mail.

Create your own QR-code by following the link below. Or read more about this new phenomenon at Mobile-Barcodes.

QR-Code Generator by Mobile-Barcodes.com

12 Jan

10 Simple Ways to Increase Your Website’s Ranking

There are several ways to make your website more search engine friendly. Here are some of the simple ones:

Add a Title (Heading) Tag to each page, also known as a Page Title. This should relate to what is on each individual page.
Add a Meta Description to each page (no more than 150 characters).
Research and and add Keywords to all the pages. Again, should relate to the copy.
Register your site with the major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Bing).
Set up a site map which should include all your pages.
Make sure you are listed on the major online local directories in your field.
Create a blog on your site, or link to it and write regular, remarkable copy (such as this). This let’s your customers interact with your company on a regular basis instead of just having a brochure online. We recommend using WordPress.org.
Create a Twitter account and contribute to it regularly. Give helpful information and links as well as tell about yourself.
Create a Facebook Fan page for your company and create content regularly.
Get as many links to your site from other high ranking sites. This can be the result of having great content on your site.

This is just the beginning. Search Engine Optimization is a great way to get your website known. Being listed high up on the search engine results pages can be quite a complex and ever changing challenge. Enjoy. Or hire the professional.

Business Practices Helpful Hints Marketing 101 Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

07 Jan

Creative Juices 29th Anniversary

Today marks the 29th anniversary of Creative Juices. We have seen many changes in the graphic arts industry. We have lived through the days of typesetting, paste up, hand inking, negs and veloxes. Then came the Mac and desktop publishing. Remember Pagemaker? Then came e-mail, the World Wide Web, Quark, Adobe and AOL. Now we have Twitter, Facebook, WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and of course the iPhone.

As technology changes Creative Juices changes too. We have many new services, including designing WordPress templates, Twitter backdrops, search engine optimization, marketing and blog copywriting. Of course we still do logo designs, brochures, websites, ads and printing. Don’t forget we can also host your blog or website and set up your domain name. I am in the process of converting my website and blog into a WordPress format. I will be adding new and exciting features which I will soon introduce. Look for more updates here.

As always, we are dedicated to giving our clients personalized, one on one service and free advice on how to improve your business image and online presence.

Feel free to call any time or stop by and visit (appointment required). Lucy the Chihuahua is always eager to greet you. Keep up on her latest musings at AllMyChihuahuas.com.

I thank all my past, present and future clients for their patronage and friendship and look forward to working with you all again in 2010 and beyond.

Creative Juices News

04 Jan

How to Cope with New FTC Affiliate Compensation Guidelines

As of December 1st, 2009, you must disclose on your website or blog if you are being compensated for endorsing a product or service. Also if you are an affiliate of the company selling the product. That’s the gist of what I’ve uncovered by doing a little research.

There’s a lot of information to be had online, from penalties to legal documents sold to post on your site. I am not a lawyer, but I doubt you will get penalized if you have a link to an Amazon product on your blog and you neglect to mention that you are an affiliate of Amazon.

As with graphic design and copywriting, if you use someone else’s stuff (images or text), that’s a no-no and you would probably get a “cease and desist” order to stop using it if caught. So please don’t steal someone’s hard work. Create your own instead. It’s much more fun and rewarding.

So if you promote a product or service that you are going to benefit from, it would be nice if you mentioned that. If you’re not being compensate, you could mention that too.

For instance, if you click on this link for ProBlogger, a very helpful and informative book on blogging, and then buy the book, I get a little change. I actually have bought the book and am reading it. And I do recommend it. It has been very helpful in setting up my WordPress blog and when I start earning a six figure income, you will be among the first to know.

Business Practices Helpful Hints

22 Dec

Snapshots of your pet just got easier with PetSnap for iPhone.

PetSnap is a neat little application you can download on your iPhone. With it you can play a variety of sounds to get your pet’s attention before you snap a photo of them. There are all kinds of animal sounds, from cats in various states (angry, hungry, annoying, spoiled), dogs, birds, zoo animals, miscellaneous sounds like a door bell, knocking, paper tearing, crumbling paper or plastic bottle, squeeze toy or even a Space Lama.

Frames are included if you want to enhance your photos, but I don’t find them very attractive. Hopefully there will be a better variety with the next update.

So if you want to get your pet’s attention (though I’m not sure it would work with a turtle) without having to act foolish in public or take a picture of the back of their head, this is an easy way to go.

It costs only $1.99. I get no commission for this one. Pity.

Helpful Hints iPhone

21 Dec

Why I switched from QuickBooks Pro 2010 to QuickBooks Mac

And why I spent $300 total to do so. I’ve had the most difficult time. Turns out Intuit does not support QuickBooks Pro for the PC running in a virtual Windows environment on your Mac. Who knew? Much online research did not point this out to me.

I was using an early 2009 iMac 24″, the latest VMfusion 3, Windows 7 Pro and QuickBooks Pro 2010. All new, all up to date, all SLOW. And a frequent problem was that often QuickBooks refused to email or print invoices. It all has something to do with QuickBooks PDF Converter 2.0. Windows seems to insist that this is the default printer when operating in QuickBooks. Deleting it or switching default printers does not help. There are a few fixes that don’t necessarily work. Sometimes downloading and using “Cute PDF Converter” works. Sometimes it doesn’t.

I had the same problem using QuickBooks Pro 2009 in Windows XP. Which is why I upgraded to 2010 and Windows 7. That was an expensive lesson.

Out of frustration I tried and have since purchased QuickBooks 2010 for Mac. And what do you know. It works. Every time. It’s too bad I can’t return my copy of QuickBooks Pro to Staples as I’ve already opened and used it. And Intuit won’t take it back since I bought it from Staples. They did offer a 20% discount for the Mac version but, again, Staples was cheaper.

So the lesson of this story is if you run a Mac, use QuickBooks for Mac. It’s a much nicer and more reliable experience. Switching over my merchant account was also easy. Intuit was very helpful with this. Whether it works or not remains to be seen. I’m waiting for my next charge customer. Need a website, logo or business card design? Have any questions on my QuickBooks experience? Just call 310-791-5803.

Business Practices Software

18 Nov

Creative Juices has launched their newest website: Diorama Fantasies

“Diorama Fantasies is the brainchild of Joe Trujillo, a forty year veteran of portraits and figure building. He has developed his own form and style of miniature Dioramas: that of vivid images, details, and three dimensional scenery. His style which has been nourished by astute observation of all forms of art and his life long involvement with drawing and different forms of painting… Joe Trujillo’s award winning dioramas and art works have appeared in art shows and conventions such as Mad Model Party, Imagination Expos, New Jersey’s Chiller Theater, San Diego’s Comic-Con, 06/07/08 Wonder Fest, and most recently 09 Monsterpalooza, The Art of Monsters. Diorama Fantasies and Joe Trujillo are committed to providing both the hobbyist and the serious collectors with the best in original resin model kits and other pieces of art. With the main objective that art may be lived by all those who wish to savor it and should be made accessible by all, to experience its beauty.”

You can also check out some of our other exciting website designs. We offer quite a large, diverse collection. Having been in the graphics business since 1981 we were there at the start of the “World Wide Web” craze. Quite a difference from typesetting and pasting up forms to designing state of the art websites to be seen all over the world.

Creative Juices News

27 Oct

Upgrading from XP to Windows 7 in Fusion 3 and Snow Leopard

Talk about complicated. Luckily I’m only running QuickBooks Pro 2010 on my Windows OS.

Through much trial and error and online research I will tell you what I discovered in a few easy steps.

1. Install VMware Fusion 3 on your Mac OS Snow Leopard. That’s fairly easy.

2. Set up a new Virtual Machine. If you have Windows XP in one Virtual Machine you can leave it there. You don’t have to back up your files or wipe your “virtual disk” clean. I’m not sure if this is approved by Windows but it works.

3. Create a new Virtual Machine and install a clean (new) version of Windows 7, not an “Upgrade”. When asked for your key, do not use your upgrade key because it won’t be accepted. Leave it blank.

4. When Windows 7 is up and running, put the Windows 7 disk back in and this time click “Upgrade”. It will see the existing Windows OS and will accept the upgrade key.

5. When installed you have to get your system activated within 30 days. And then you’re done. It worked for me and I hope it works for you.

You can get greater details by doing a little searching online. It is assumed that you have a legal version of Windows XP on your system or in your possession.

Computer Tech Support Software

25 Oct

Google Analytics Apps for iPhone have gone missing.

I discovered recently that both AnalyticsPro and myAnalytics no longer work on the iPhone. After a little research I’ve found they are both missing from the iPhone app store. Hmmm.

According to Analytics App Google has made changes in their authentication process. The people at Analytics App are working on this. I guess the other two apps have given up and disappeared.

I guess you never know when the app you’ve paid for will become worthless.

iPhone

15 Oct

Photoshop CS4 and Snow Leopard

Photoshop CS4 is not playing nice with my Snow Leopard. If you’ve been having font issues and quitting issues it may be because your Photoshop is running in Rosetta. A little research showed that running an older Epson scanner caused my copy of Photoshop to run in Rosetta.

Sounds pretty, but suddenly I could no longer double click on a PSD file and have it open in Photoshop. Saving files sometimes caused the program to crash. And Photoshop never quit. Always had to force quit.

So if you go to “Get Info” on your Photoshop icon you will see the Running in Rosetta option checked. Uncheck it and with any luck your Photoshop will be running like it’s supposed to.