Receiving recognition for a job well done is always a great feeling, so just imagine how wonderful the PlanMySite team felt after receiving 2 silver awards from International Academy of Visual Arts W3 Awards program. The W3 Awards, which honors outstanding websites, web videos, web marketing and mobile apps, recognizes the best designers, creators and interactive agencies around the world. Therefore, earning two silver awards for two different websites was certainly an honor.

Thanks to the unique format of the W3 Awards, everyone from small firms to Fortune 500 companies and international agencies have the opportunity to be recognized. This doesn’t mean that competition isn’t stiff, however, as W3 Awards officials have reported that more than 3,000 entries from Public Relations Firms, Ad Agencies, Interactive Agencies, Graphic Designers, Web Designers and Web Enthusiasts were reviewed by the panel of judges.

“This year’s W3 Winners demonstrate the out-of-the-box thinking and creative execution that exemplifies what the Web is all about,” said Linda Day, who is the Executive Director of the IAVA in a recent press release.

The two Silver ratings awarded to PlanMySite were in recognition of the site our team created for Brooke M. Barnett & Associates law firm and for the Kwahuman Association of New Jersey. While the Brooke M. Barnett site was included in the Law & Legal Services category, the Kwahuman Association site was judged in the Non-Profit category. Brooke M. Barnett & Associates offers criminal defense services in a friendly and helpful atmosphere, while the Kwahuman Association is a socio-cultural organization dedicated to promoting education and preventative health in New Jersey and in the Kwahu Traditional Areas in Ghana, West Africa.

Both of these clients were a pleasure to work with and we feel honored to have been able to create websites to suit their needs while also being recognized with the prestigious W3 Award. We hope to repeat this same success with every single one of our clients.

With the new Facebook Cover feature, you can add another element to your e-marketing campaign by linking your profile picture to the upper banner with the help of QR codes. The Facebook Cover can also be used with advertising campaigns or to help with taking social action, such as “The Anti-Drugs Timeline” launched by the Israel Anti Drug Authority. Here are just a few great examples of how you can creatively change your Facebook profile in order to take full advantage of the new Cover feature.

1. Mohammad L. Azzam

2. Aly Moffatt

3. Antonio Fadda

4. Emanuele Bartolomucci

5. Eyal Shahar

6. Jerome Vadon

Facebook Cover

If you are interested creating your own Facebook Cover, you can download Facebook Timeline Cover Template we created to help you get started. It includes Photoshop file, Action Photoshop and JPG with dimensions of Timeline Cover. Each of these files offers the perfect dimensions and guides to be used as a Facebook Cover. All you need to do is place your photograph or other graphic into the guide and then save your file in the jpg format.  After you add this file to your Facebook album, you can select it to be your new Facebook Cover. Offered in conjunction with the British Moo service and Facebook, the first 200 thousand people to visit the Facebook Cards site http://uk.moo.com/products/facebook-cards.html will receive a total of 10 million of these unique and innovative cards.

Clearly, you do not need to be a graphic designer in order to take full advantage of the Facebook Cover feature. Even better, if you really like the design that you create, you can take your Facebook Cover offline and share it with your friends with Facebook Cards. Or, if you want to go mobile with your Facebook Cover, use the new Timeline on Adroid and iOS and through m.facebook.com.

If you don’t have the new Facebook Timeline, but you want to take full advantage of all that it has to offer, simply visit http://www.facebook.com/about/timeline and click on “Get Timeline.” You will then find all of the information you need to receive the new interface!

At PlanMySite, we can’t help but get swept away by the Christmas spirit. So, in an effort to show just how much we appreciate all of our site visitors, we are pleased to provide free Christmas wallpaper this holiday season. To show you just how much we appreciate you (and because, frankly, we really enjoy creating Christmas wallpaper designs!), we have created three different wallpapers to select from. Each of these wallpaper designs is available in 8 different resolutions, so you are sure to find the wallpaper design to suit your needs.

Since our Christmas wallpaper is available for free, we also encourage you to share our wallpaper with your friends and family. The holiday season is about giving and sharing, so feel free to share our free Christmas wallpaper with as many people as you like! Have a wonderful holiday season!

Merry Christmas Wallpaper
1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Xmas Gift Wallpaper
1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Christmas Tree Wallpaper
1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

While some business owners may think there is no point to jumping on board another social networking site, Google+ has much to offer to a business. First, whether we like it or not, social networking is here to stay. Therefore, it is in the best interest of any business owner to take full advantage of the networking sites that are available. Not only do social networking sites make it easier to connect with customers, they also aid with performing market research, gaining new customers and creating a brand image. Furthermore, as would be expected from any product launched by Google, Google+ offers plenty of tools that can be quite handy to the business owner. Here’s a look at some of the tools and how you can use them for your business:

• Circles – makes it possible to group your followers into smaller audiences according to specific characteristics or traits, which then allows you to share messages with just a specific group of people.
• +1 Button – allows users to recommend your page directly to their friends.
• Google+ Badge – allows users to add your page to their circles and to start receiving your updates without needing to leave your main website

Google is also working on a way for businesses to link their Google+ Page to their AdWords campaign. In this way, all of your +1s will show with your brand wherever it appears, including in ads, in searches and on your website. For those who are using AdWords Express from a Google Places account, ads can be easily linked to the Google+ Page by simply selecting the appropriate option and entering the URL of the Google+ Page into the appropriate field.

Another feature that Google+ has added for businesses is the Direct Connect feature. With this feature, someone can simply put a “+” before the name of your business or organization when performing a Google search. This will automatically redirect the user to your Google+ Page. While this feature will not work for everyone, it is a nice touch for those businesses for which it works.

Already, a number of companies have created a Google+ page to help them connect with their customers. Some of these include Pepsi, Good Morning America, Macy’s and even the Dallas Cowboys. If you are ready to create a business page for Google+, visit plus.google.com/pages/ create to get started.

Please join us at Google Plus.

Known as the Protect IP Act, the bill will implement some firewall features that are quite similar to those found in China. Through the bill, the attorney general will have the power to unilaterally create a blacklist of sites to be blocked by Internet service providers, payment providers, search engines and advertising networks without having a court hearing or a trial. The House version, known as the Stop Online Piracy Act, will even allow private companies to sue service providers who unknowingly host content that infringes upon copyright, even if it is up for only a short period of time. This will represent a significant change from current legislation, which protects service providers so long as they remove the content immediately after being notified.

While the legislation has been proposed in an effort to protect and enforce copyright, the implications of the bill are quite frightening. For user-generated sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, the bill could result in a complete shutdown. After all, if the bill goes into effect, these sites will face legal action if users put copyright-protected content on their sites. Rather than hiring thousands of people to monitor their content, many of these companies may have simply cut their losses and go offline. Yet, many well-financed organizations are currently backing the bill. These include:

• The American Federation of Musicians
• The Directors Guild of America
• The International Brotherhood of Teamsters
• The Motion Picture Association of America
• The Screen Actors Guild
• The United States Chamber of Commerce

Unfortunately, even if companies are willing to spend the money to have their sites monitored, research has shown that employees have a tendency to over-censor. Rather than take the risk of something being free for public use, employees choose to block content in order to be on the safe side. As a result, citizens of the United States face the possibility of extreme online legislation of the bill manages to pass. For this reason, many companies have expressed their opposition to the bill. These include google, Twitter, Facebook and other major online companies.

To make your voice heard in opposition of the Internet Censorship bill, visit the American Censorship website. Here, you will be directed to a simple form that will allow you to voice your opposition to lawmakers. You can also access simple HTML code, which you can use on your site to temporarily show your site as “blocked” in order to raise awareness when people visit your site. Tumblr has also made it easy to call your congressperson by simply visiting the Tumblr’ web page, or you can sign this online White House petition.

Originally founded in the summer of 1998, the Association focuses on the people of the Kwahu, including those who live in New Jersey as well as those in the Kwahu Traditional Areas in Ghana, West Africa. In addition to supporting charitable causes and developing health and economic programs to support those in the Kwahu Traditional Areas, the Association also works toward supporting the social well-being of New Jersey communities. This support is provided in a number of ways, including:

• Providing assistance through an Education Fund, which supports students in New Jersey and in Ghana
• Establishing preventive healthcare measures and providing affordable healthcare to members and others in the community
• Bringing child immunizations and healthcare education programs to Ghana

The Association also emphasizes the importance of love, family and encouraging others. By creating a website with a custom content management system, the PlanMySite team made it possible for the Association to share information with members, to receive donations and to find other ways to encourage interaction among members. We also created a logo and other items, such as stationary, that the Association can now use to further its initiatives while creating an identity that will be easily recognized in New Jersey and around the world. We are more than happy to be able to help and offer logo, identity, and website design for non-profit organization in New Jersey.

To get more information and screenshots, please visit our clients section. Here is the link: Kwahuman Association of New Jersey Project.

The website is already launched: www.kwahumannj.org

This past May, PlanMySite was awarded the Silver Award of Distinction for its work on the Gemkin Millworks logo design. With more than 6,000 designs from around the world being entered into the program each year and is judged by some of the leading professionals in the business, including professionals from Disney, Estee Lauder, The Ellen Degeneres Show, HBO, MTV, Ralph Lauren, Victoria’s Secret, Yahoo!, Monster.com and more. As such, the Communicator Awards is a highly-competitive awards program that focuses on recognizing creative excellence in the field.

“We were once again amazed at the high level of work we received for this year’s Communicator Awards,” said Linda Day, who is the director of the IAVA, in a recent press release. “With this year’s entries we found an increased awareness and reflection of the digital world in which we live, and our entrants always seem to find new and creative ways to push the envelope of possibilities across all mediums.”

Each of the logos was evaluated on distinction in creative work, with each being scored on a ten-point scale. In general, those that received an Excellence award received a score of 9.0 or greater, while those that received a Distinction award received a score of 7.0 to 8.9. To view a full list of winners, visit the Communicator Awards webpage.

While Google Analytics Premium does require paying a “nominal” annual fee of $150,000, the service increases the power of the free edition while also providing more information to aid in decision-making. Some of the features found with the Google Analytics Premium edition include:

• No data limits – whereas the free version has data limitations, the premium version allows you to track billions of hits per month
• Variable customization – the premium edition of Google Analytics allows you to create 50 custom variables, allowing you to gain more information about site visitors
• Attribution modeling – allows you to gain a deeper understanding of your marketing campaigns as you learn more about the various channels within your media mix

In addition to offering these added features, Google backs its new premium edition with a guarantee. In fact, if your site activity is not reliably and accurately recorded and made available to you, Google will pay you back. Some of the information you can expect to receive through the premium program include:

• A Service Level Agreement of 99.9 percent in any given calendar month
• Data freshness, with data being no more than four hours old 98 percent of the time
• Guaranteed reporting of 99 percent in any calendar month

With the information provided to you through these reports, you can react more quickly to the needs and demands of consumers.

If all of this sounds a bit confusing to you, you will be happy to know that the Google Analytics Premium package also comes complete with custom training and support. In fact, each subscriber to Google Analytics Premium gets his own account manager who will serve as a natural extension of the web development and marketing team. This expert is available to provide your company with technical training and can even provide webinars and on-site training.

A Google specialist will also help your company transfer from your existing installations to the upgraded functions and features the premium package provides. This way, you can be sure to obtain a full and reliable data set. Even better, if you encounter problems outside of normal business hours, Google has actually provided a 24/7 emergency support hotline that you can contact for help.

With all that Google Analytics Premium has to offer, it is certainly something that is worth a second look for any corporation that is serious about creating a strong Internet presence and getting the most out of an online marketing campaign.

Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me…Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful…that’s what matters to me.” – the Wall Street Journal, 1993

As a tribute to Jobs and to show just how much of an impact he has had on the world, we have created several different wallpaper designs containing just a few of our favorite Steve Jobs quotes. Each of our newly-created wallpapers contains one unique quote that we found to be particularly inspirational. We are offering these wallpaper designs for free to anyone who wishes to download them. To us, this is the least we can do to help cherish the memory and to carry on the legacy of a man who we regard so highly.

Steve Jobs Wallpapers

To make it easy for all of you, we prepared each wallpaper in 8 different sizes: 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, and of course 2560×1440.

Download Wallpaper 1

Download Wallpaper 2

Download Wallpaper 3

Download Wallpaper 4

Download Wallpaper 5

Download Wallpaper 6

Just in case you like all 6 wallpapers we created, there is a package with all Steve Jobs wallpapers.

Given his success, Jobs was a highly-sought speaker at Commencements. In 2005, his address to the graduates of Stanford University contained the following quote:

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”

Not only does this quote perfectly summarize the passion with which Jobs addressed his work, but it also perfectly describes the philosophy of the PlanMySite team. Each of us has pursued our dream, and we have all found the type of work that we can feel passionate about. It is because of our love for what we do and because of our commitment to excellence that we always strive for perfection with everything we do.

Keep looking. Don’t settle.”

These are truly words to live by. Whether pursuing the job of your dreams or trying to solve a problem for a client, PlanMySite shares this philosophy with the late Steve Jobs. When you work with our team, we hope our dedication to meet all of your needs is apparent from start to finish. We know Jobs would have wanted it that way; may he rest in peace.