Huddled Masses Website Development. How great people inspire great work.

Huddled Masses Website Development. How great people inspire great work.

Developing the Huddled Masses website was both fun and challenging. They had a few variations of older site desigs, and variety of brand segments that we needed to bring together into a modern and practical presentation that really represented their CEO Kristie and the team, as well as make it “fun” for their clients to engage as well. The “game pieces” theme fit into their basically helping their clients find and fit that “missing piece.”

Working with some of the best PR talents (Laura Goldberg @https://www.lbgpr.com, and Susanna Hinds) made the project high caliber, high energy, and top shelf professional.

The team at Huddled Masses are wonderful to work with, and as performance marketers, absolutely the terrific. Great people, that all inspire teamwork and great work.

Meet Huddled Masses

Performance marketing solutions that drive real ROI.

Digital advertising campaigns can sometimes feel precarious. One element or piece out of place and everything collapses.

Huddled Masses has a track record in helping clients find that critical piece of the digital advertising puzzle to pull it all together. Oftentimes it’s a piece that they didn’t even know was missing.

Kristie MacDonald, CEO—brings more than 15 years of entertainment marketing and research experience to her leadership role at Huddled Masses. 

Direct Digital Holdings Branding and Website Development—The Value of a Great Team

Direct Digital Holdings Branding and Website Development

Having any design project start off with a fun, exciting, and enjoyable kickoff call is always a great sign. Mark Walker their CEO, and their PR firm (Laura Goldberg @https://www.lbgpr.com) are incredible. An engaging and driven conversation led to what became a very cool project. They know what they like and want, yet allowed the creative process to unfold. Developing the site included branding. A logo and site that captured an energetic “forward moving, colorful, and exciting vibe that makes it engaging, interesting, and simple. Responsive mobility was a must here also.

Meet Direct Digital Holdings

Direct Digital Holdings brings state-of-the-art supply-side and demand-side advertising platforms together under one umbrella company.

They deliver significant ROI for middle market advertisers.

They give advertisers of all sizes unparalleled reach within general market and multicultural media properties.

CEO and founder, Mark Walker brings nearly 20 years of experience in private equity, building relationships, and revenue generating operations for Fortune 500 corporations as well as start-ups. 

https://directdigitalholdings.com

Marketing ones creative Self

In addition to having talent and abilities, or drive and passion in the creative space, is marketing ones creative Self. If you do it for fun, sharing it to inspire others or letting your creative Self shine outward is a good idea. The flower expresses its “Self” by nature— and so should you. And it’s not bragging or boasting—it’s being, expressing, and sharing. You know how you are drawn to others, impressed by works of art, or enamored by all the things in the world? By allowing your expression of creativity you align with and play and important part of that as well.

So how? Connect with or create a network. Social media is a great place to start. But friends, colleagues, associates, clubs, art shows, and other ways to get your “stuff” put there… Start with creating or sharing on social media though.

Professionally—you MUST market your Self. Your level of success, outcome and results are directly related to how much effort you put in to your marketing. And there are many, MANY ways of doing that today.

Start with social media. Create or work hard at using it regularly. Expand a useful, strategic, and meaningful  list of contacts. People that will either help, support, help grow, or contribute to your growth, sales, and success. Create raving, exciting fans that want to be a part of your network. Create awesome, useful, meaningful content that they MUST have. Show your stuff, advertise and market your wares—regularly and consistently.

For beginners only…

Other ways to market your creative Self might be using social media advertising campaigns—connecting to qualified leads. People that need your services. You can also leverage modern day online clubs, such as Fivr (https://www.fiverr.com/start_selling), or InDeed (http://www.indeed.com)— two popular freelance sites that you can grow and expand your design business. There are downfalls there however, you share your money with their fees— and become reliant on their platforms instead of your own— which I personally think is best. But, starting out, sure— grab some freelance work on those sites. Work it, expand it, grow it. At least try these things and see what works… And there are others. Etsy is a great DIY site for master crafters and designers alike. Amazon, Google, and other big players have stores and sites that allow you to sell your wares as well. Even Craigs List (http://www.craigslist.org) has leads if you search or advertise your stuff on their help wanted section.

The bottom line?

You need to get your name out there. Advertise your stuff. Talk about it, develop strategic, aggressive, and meaningful game plans to get your name out there, advertise your business, services, or abilities. And remember you get out what you put in. BIG (well thought out, meaningful, and truly passionate) effort means big results. LITTLE and meaningless effort will equate to absolutely nothing. It’s that simple.

If you want more advice, or help developing a game plan, or how to get massive results in your business, get a hold of me. Email todd@mitchellcreativegroup.com, or call me at (508) 494-8182.

Simple, practical, and inspired creative. Free creative coaching. Free first project for qualifiers. The best creative solution.

Get creative. http://www.mitchellcreativegroup.com, todd@mitchellcreativegroup.com, (508)494-8182.

© Copyright Todd Mitchell, Mitchell Creative Group, LLC

Ebooks, part 1

eBooks (Electronic Books) are a great modern communication platform to create articles, publications, manuals, guidebooks - and more. What's best (and defines modern) is that they are created for online use and can be created in a variety of ways, making them useful on a variety of online platforms.

Web browsers (like Explorer, Safari, Firefox, and Chrome), tablet computers (ipad, etc...), and handheld devices (cell phones - iphones, Blackberry, etc...) can all provide the visual platform for ebooks - not to mention the currently popular "e-readers" like the Nook® and many others.

Like most things, while most anyone with any computer know-how can create some kind of ebook, if created professionally - that is, by someone with good technical and creative know-how - can help you create some really cool ebooks that not only look dazzling but will be functional, easy and fun to use, and help you accomplish whatever goal your ebook(s) have.

For example; creating a professional design, adding relative and attractive artwork, clean and colorful layout, advertising, functionality OF that advertising (making sure the ads clicked work!), proper click throughs (links that direct to the right location), the correct type of ebook, and many other creative/technical aspects that will absolutely affect the success or failure of any ebook.

Important!

The common misconception of eBooks are that they are printed magazines or books, made into online pdfs. While that can be true for some (these can be created), they are not true eBooks.

Ebooks that are created as/for eBooks specifically have some unique criteria to render them effective in both design and functionality. For example;

Ebook text (per page)
Ebook text (per page) is less per page than printed material. To be truly “viewable” online, the text must be a certain size, and typically 4-6 point sizes larger than traditional print publications. Typical ebooks might contain about 300 words per page, as opposed to 500-600 words on a printed publication.

Single pages versus “spreads”

Creating an eBook is typically experienced page by page. You read a page, you turn a page, etc... So where the turn page buttons are, how the design is laid out, etc... are important factors. Creating “spreads” is a matter of design/layout that should be determined initially. The layout is far different than single page since components will line up differently (where images line up on the spread, where articles start/stop, etc...).

Print vs. Online

Simply, online requires a resolution (quality read in “dots per inch”) of only 72 DPI. Print, typically 300 DPI. So whether print or online, each image and all elements must be created individually at that specific resolution. Otherwise, online versions with too high a resolution will be a HUGE file size taking forever to download, as well as a printable piece (professional quality) having too low res of images will print really fuzzy/grainy... Typically, about 120DPI is recommended for eBooks, so if printed locally (laser printed) they actually come out rather nicely and also look and act well online.

Essentially, there are 6 primary (popular) types of ebooks: PDF, Website, Flash-based, Custom Programmable, Application-based (App), and Device-Specific.

Types of ebooks

Essentially, there are 6 primary (popular) types of ebooks: PDF, Website, Flash-based, Custom Programmable, Application-based (App), and Device-Specific. Each of them unique and carry their own set of strengths and weaknesses. Most of them also have similarities. I think the strengths clearly outweigh the weaknesses.

PDF ebook

From my perspective, the best option. PDF (portable document format) is a computer programmable language that has been around for a very long time. It's a relatively stable format that's widely used and/or accepted on most all online accessible devices. They can be read/viewed online, and can also be distributed as a file to other devices (emailed, etc...). In addition, they are easy to print out - therefore making a great online/print combination. With this option you can create a really robust print-like, professional e-magazine - or a very simple, fluid, mostly text-based document as a matter of design, each having its own strengths. If you’re looking for a really cool design that looks like a news stand magazine - or a cool, simple well-designed piece that’s mostly stable, and easily read on most devices, this is a strong option.

Strengths:

1. Easily read on most devices.

2. Easily distributed (emailed, etc...).

3. Easy to download.

4. Can provide sharp, crisp graphics.

5. Can have interactive abilities (hyperlinks, buttons, page turning, linked contents page to other pages, forms, and more...).

6. Can be edited (minor corrections only) directly with easy-to-use Adobe Acrobat software.

7. Allow you to use unlimited design. Fonts, colors, graphics, etc... Not limited as is on Web pages.

8. Easy to print.

9. Scaleable. Can be made into a variety of sizes, structures and designs. Single page, spreads, tall, wide, etc...

1. Text can be "grabbed," or copied with Adobe Acrobat software  to other programs easily AND/OR can be password protected (read-only) so you can potentially also NOT allow that function if you want that layer of security.

Weaknesses:

1. While they can be edited with Adobe Acrobat software, moderate/major edits need to be done on the original software that created the pdf. Those costs would need to be estimated through that process. 

2. Larger files create larger file sizes, which can be slower to download. There are definitely ways to avoid this issue (see below), but for longer/larger pdfs, can create a download/bandwidth issue.

Some Average Costs:

The cost will typically depend upon the size of the eBook, how much graphical work is applied, and the amount of follow up or edits are required. Average costs are as follows (but can range as  appropriate):

• Design consultation (design cover, TOC, and inside page): $500-$1200+

• Production of ebook (delivered)

• Up to 50 pages: $100 per page

• 50 to 100 pages: $125 per page (larger projects require more technical time and/or elements)

• Graphics: $50 per chart, $100 per stock image, custom illustrations quoted separately (larger, more detailed graphics)

• Hosting ebook: $350+/-

• Additional edits (beyond 3 rounds of edits or post launch): $100 per hour

• Basic landing web page for ebook, if applicable (text provided by client): $500+/-
  
  

Website-based ebook

Simply put, this type of ebook will look, act, and feel like a true website. Remember essentially, websites can be created in an infinite array of designs, so creating an ebook type of website (html-based) is a matter of setting the "website" up to look, act, and feel like an ebook. You can create a design that mimics most any size or style publication, loaded with buttons, graphics, and other components that make it a true publication-type website. Click a page, or button to turn the page, and it proceeds to that specific page...

Strengths:

1. Simple html website structure.

2. Relatively easy to edit (text is easy to work with, graphics can be easy to work with. Subject to typical website changes/edits.

3. Moderately flexible in design, similar to any website design process.

4. Can be viewed easily on most all web browsers (computer or handheld/laptop devices).

5. Size is only limited to practicality. In other words, as long or as large as you feel works well in design/concept.

Weaknesses:

1. Limited to the constraints of any website, since effectively - it is a website.

2. Graphically, can be limited whereas a print-type of publication has more design-ability features - web does have limitations.

Some Average Costs:

The cost will typically depend upon the size of the eBook, how much graphical work is applied, and the amount of follow up or edits are required. Average costs are as follows (but can range as  appropriate):

• Design consultation (design home page, turn page, design): $500-$1200+

• Production of ebook (delivered): $1200-$5K+

• Per story or article (on its own single long page): $450

• Per individual page (article on multi pages): $125 per web page

• Graphics: $50 per chart, $100 per stock image, custom illustrations quoted separately (fancy extensive work)

• Hosting ebook: $350+/-

• Additional edits (past 3 rounds or post launch): $50 - $150 per hour depending on the edit type.
  
  

Device Specific ebooks

The device-specific (D.S.) eBook is solely for a particular brand or device. For example, the Amazon Kindle® eBook reader uses a proprietary format “AZW.” Most of these (D.S.) eReaders follow the same protocol and while they can be created, they are best done through those proprietary software programs and systems - rendering them available through those specific devices. Not the ideal custom created eBook, but an option if it were part of your strategy. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-book_formats for more information.

Strengths: Good on each device only

Weaknesses: Good on each device only! Not very customizable in layout or design, commonly very expensive and complex to get the right help in being able to create the ebook.

Some Average Costs: Information not available.

Recommendations 

When creating these ebooks, the following suggestions are recommended:

PDF Type Ebook

You first have to determine whether you want a robust, graphically enhanced publication, or a simpler text-based publication. These (and other) decisions will affect the audience experience as well as the time frame and cost associated with creating these. A good art director or creative manager will be able to consult with you to make the best determination.

1. For a booklet with more graphic elements, keep shorter in length. 30-40 pages max.

2. For longer books (more than 40 pages), minimize graphics, keep design simple. There may be more text but you need to decide what “kind” of ebook you are creating. Some prefer reading text with no distracting graphics - others prefer more graphics...

3. Each page should contain about 300 words max depending on design, and whether you add graphics or not.
   
   

Worksheet

1. What type of ebook do you want to create?

2. How long will it be?

3. Graphical, or more text?

4. Cost range? What do you expect to pay to create?

5. Hosting. Where will it reside for download?

6. What time frame to create or make available?

7. Will you have advertising? How much/how many?

8. Is it one book, chapter book, or how many articles?

9. Will you have the text ready and edited, or need that created?

10. Graphics available ready-to-use, or need creating?

11. Will it have a cover? Cover image?

12. Is it part of a series, or one-off?

13. What is your strategy for creating this eBook? Why are you creating it?