The Solid Giant has been a busy monster over the last few months and hasn’t had a free moment to update the portfolio section, but this week will be putting up a slew of recent projects… So keep those eyes open.
And just for good measure a teaser…
As my gift to you, here is a desktop wallpaper.
The sizes are:
Use responsibly. 
It’s no surprise that wordpress is the #1 Content Management System on the planet right now. If you are surprised than checkity check out the reasons why it is.
1. It’s free
2. Widely suported by developers everywhere
3. Huge list of plugins that do everything
4. Complete creative control on the look of a website
5. You can install it on your own server
6. Massive community of Themes
7. Easy to understand content editor
There are way more reasons that I could list here, but I’m sure you probably already know what wordpress is, because you are reading this article right now. And guess what? The article you are reading is built on WordPress.
Surprise!
Now that we have a basis for why WordPress is awesome, lets get started on how to leverage it for your business. And keep in mind, business can be swapped out for nonprofit, startup, church… anything that you need a website for.
Welcome to the awesome Cloud effect Javascript and CSS tutorial. Check out what it looks like in action here: www.nichesnowboards.com. We can all thank Ben for making me do this. Thank you Ben, xoxoxoxo.
This tutorial uses the jquery framework. If you don’t know what that is than read up my little one, read up.
You have likely heard of the term copywriting If you’re a small to medium business owner. It’s thrown around a bit haphazardly these days. What with those Mad Men chaps and all.
But what is it?
Advertising? PR? Web content?
In reality, copywriting can mean all these things. When there are written materials representing you, your business or organization, you’re dealing with copy.
First, in an online context, copy is there to define your product or service. Visitors to your website must know what you’re pitching. They’ll have little interest in it if they don’t.
Secondly, copywriting defines your focus. Who are you speaking to? What are your marketing goals? Copywriting serves its purpose best when the purpose is known. Seems like a no-brainer, but getting the voice right can be difficult. It’s what matters. Copywriters do that.
That tone of voice is important. Take for example Solid Giant. We use loose language here. It’s fun. It’s who we are. But it isn’t right for everyone. That’s not to say you can’t be fun, but there is a difference between fun and professional, fun and business like, fun and caring, or just plain fun. It’s all about how you wish to appear.
So one night you are sitting on your couch with your laptop (or iPad if you’re spoiled) and you happen to stumble across a website that you think looks great. You may not even understand why you think it looks great. It may be something about the color, the spacing, the pictures. Maybe it’s the texture of the website, the background. It could even be the beautifully written copy. It just feels right.
Perfect.
Feng shui.
You may ask yourself “What makes great design? Or better yet, how can it benefit me?”.
I’m glad you asked, imaginary friend, because guess what? That’s the whole reason for this article!
Copywriting manifests itself in so many ways it’s hard to understand what it is. Journalists talk about making copy. So do business folk. Charities too. But what does copy mean for the web?
Website copy is the bread and butter of many businesses and organizations. When someone wants information, they’re likely to search a website. The yellow pages are no longer a solid place to find information about business. It’s gone the way of the dinosaur; burned up by a meteor. Or something.
Imagine the web is the meteor! It’s coming towards businesses at 160,000 miles per hour! If you’re not prepared with a good defense, say, good copy, you’re finished.
So I bet the only reason why you are currently reading this “Journal” aka blog, is for this article below. I bet you may have been waiting your whole life for this howto on javascipt to come along. Am I right? Right?
No?
Alrighty, well anyway I would still like to share the code behind the floating G up in the header that you see above. I spent many many hours perfecting this. Actually one hour, but still.
So lets get started with this beast!
Most businesses and organizations know the value of a great website. A rockin’ color scheme, and super shiny web ‘2.0’ buttons, will attract customers to your product or service. A good logo doesn’t hurt either.
But just as good design grabs the attention of a potential customer, bad content has the ability to turn them away.
Does powerful copy really make such a difference?
You bet your socks it does.
What does it do then?
Journal is the new Blog. In case you were wondering. Blog is totally 2010, and “Journal” is 2011 and beyond.
This journal will be a place where Solid Giant in general, and Josh Starr (me) specifically, will be writing:
If there are any other topics that you would like to see here let a brothah know. Also if you don’t want to see anything than be sure to not let me know. Kidding.
