Last month, Qwicket Design put together an advertisement for Susan G. Komen for the Cure Massachusetts. This morning, an intrepid commuter on an MBTA Orange Line train snapped this image of the ad in action.
As always, it’s an honor and a privilege to play a small part in serving such an important cause. Komen MA’s 19th-annual Race for the Cure will be held Sunday, Oct. 30 at Joe Moakley Park in Boston. Race start time is 10 a.m. Click here to find out more.
Qwicket Design’s most recent project has been the update to the website for Hair By Hanna.
Hair by Hanna is a family-oriented, neighborhood hairdresser and salon located in West Newton, Mass.
Hair by Hanna has extensive experience in coloring, perms, hair straightening, and waxing. The salon also offers a variety of tanning options; from traditional booths to the precision air brush tan.
The friendly staff will cater to every client, whether for their very first haircut or the mature, experienced client. At Hair by Hanna you can expect to receive the same services offered at any upscale salon, but at neighborhood prices.
The New York Times had a very interesting article in the Saturday, Feb. 12 edition about how J.C. Penney, one of the largest retailers in the country, became the No. 1 search result on Google for pretty much any search request a person put into the world’s most popular search engine. The short story? They cheated. The moral of this short story? Beware the Google Search, or any search for that matter.
It’s clear that even on a good day Google would prefer not to disclose the myriad parameters that go into how it derives search rankings. Let’s just say there are some forces among the interwebs that resort to “Black Hat” tactics – read: cheating – to jam a particular company’s search rankings to the top of the heap.
The article, penned by David Segal, goes on to describe that one of the best ways to increase your business’s Google score is links to your site from other sites:
If you own a Web site, for instance, about Chinese cooking, your site’s Google ranking will improve as other sites link to it. The more links to your site, especially those from other Chinese cooking-related sites, the higher your ranking. In a way, what Google is measuring is your site’s popularity by polling the best-informed online fans of Chinese cooking and counting their links to your site as votes of approval.
But even links that have nothing to do with Chinese cooking can bolster your profile if your site is barnacled with enough of them. And here’s where the strategy that aided Penney comes in. Someone paid to have thousands of links placed on hundreds of sites scattered around the Web, all of which lead directly to JC Penney.
While not technically illegal, violators of these Black Hat “laws” risk incurring the wrath of Google, which has the power to give websites the “death penalty” by de-listing their sites from its search engines. Companies that work with these black magic tools soil the search results for the rest of us – people who are looking for responsible businesses with actual products and services to sell.
JC Penney claims to have no knowledge of who did this but says it is working to remove all the offending links. Either way, it’s a good mini lesson on how Google search works and how savvy readers should beware of links that claim to be something they are not.
Qwicket Design’s newest website design is www.1-2boxing.com, a Franklin, Mass.-based fitness workout run by Keiko Keegan. I also adapted the 1-2 Boxing logo to incorporate the new red, black and white color scheme.
The website features a section entitled “Knockouts”, in which Keiko spotlights “women who inspire and empower women to be the best that they can be. They embody strength, understand perseverance, and live their life with purpose.” It’s a great way for prospective clients to be motivated by women who have taken 1-2 Boxing classes with Keiko and have empowered themselves in all aspects of their lives because of it.
We have plans to add video slideshows to the website as well as a number of short videos featuring interviews with Keiko and various clients. Also planned are videos centered on what to expect in a typical 1-2 Boxing class.
Exciting things are happening at Qwicket Design and I’m proud to be involved in helping 1-2 Boxing inprove its website presence.
HRMpact yesterday launched its new website at www.hrmpact.com. The site focuses on HRMpact’s ability to provide information-based human resources solutions to small and medium-sized businesses that allow these companies to make better people management decisions.
The streamlined site features overviews of products that are available as well as resources for clients to use that can improve their HR capabilities.
Qwicket Design is also working with HRMpact to develop a number of informational and promotional items, that are tied into the overall look and theme of the website, that will be available to clients.
If you’re in the Boston area and are thinking about a newly-designed living or work space, then you should check with Lysa Wilkins Interiors. Qwicket Design just created their website, which includes a gallery of her work – both residential and commercial – a little bit about Lysa and a few testimonials from satisfied clients.
The website includes a simple flash intro on the home page along with a unique main navigation that is, at the same time, elegant and complementary to the background image – itself an example of Lysa’s work.
I like this website for its unifying use of color but also for its simplicity and clean design – all ideals an interior designer and her clients can get behind.
This is the advertisement that will run on the inside front cover of the Concert for the Cure. It serves as a great example of the kind of print design I can develop for small businesses and/or non-profits.
Thanks to Komen MA for generously allowing me the space to show off my business and to Waltham-based photographer Stewart Woodward (www.visualtalent.com) for taking the various pictures of my hand.
