The internet thrives on the free-flow of ideas and the passage of those ideas from place to place. Protect IP seeks to curb that flow, and gives the entertainment industry the power to do it. It would give these private corporations the power to shut down any website that directly or indirectly promotes pirating or copyright infringement. So, that cover video your 9-year-old cousin posted of her favorite Justin Beiber song is a violation, the photo of Seth Rogen you posted on Facebook for doppleganger week crosses the line, and the gif from last week’s Big Bang Theory on your tumblr breaks the law. These websites can be shut down, sued, or have all of their US-based advertisement cancelled. New start-ups as well as old social networking favorites could be seriously crippled by this legislation. 

On top of all that, there is a serious flaw in the execution. This bill will only affect the DNS for each site, still allowing access to anyone who types in the IP address. It won’t stop piracy, but it will harm websites that the government feels are not filtering links to pirated material well enough.

We do think that copyright infringement is wrong, but this level of censorship is not the answer. Protect IP creates more problems than it solves. Please consider signing the official petition against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), sending an e-mail, or making a phone call to your local politicians. These links make it fast and easy to make your voice heard.

The internet is a place to hear and be heard. Don’t let Protect IP take that away.

Small Business Saturday

For some of us, November 26 is an extra recovery day from eating too much turkey. For others, it means waking up at the break of dawn [again] to celebrate Target’s Two-Day Sale. But what it should mean for all of us, is the perfect opportunity to support our local economy!

November 26, 2011 is “Small Business Saturday”, a day dedicated to the small businesses of America. Over 2 million people have friended Small Business Saturday’s Facebook page and even major corporations like FedEx, American Express, and Google are showing their support.

American Express launched a campaign to get consumers to “shop small” during Thanksgiving weekend. Whether you’re a business owner or a consumer, Small Business Saturday is more than just a shopping event; it’s a way of acting on our commitment to the small business in America. You can help show your support by pledging to make a purchase at your favorite shop! 

As a small business ourselves, We Make Nice Websites knows how important local support is and we’re grateful for all of the opportunities we’ve received in our 2 years of business. Most of our clients are also small businesses too, making us extra thankful that we’re able to collaborate together and help make a difference in Rochester.

Please show your support for all of the hard working folks in our community and buy something local on Small Business Saturday!

Last week We Make Nice Websites Creative Director Greg Cunneyworth was asked to be a part of the RAF Reality Check. The event was a great opportunity to sit down in a “speed-dating” fashion and meet senior graphic design and new media students from RIT. The students were encouraged to ask questions regarding the design industry. Because it wasn’t a portfolio review, the pressure to judge their work was off, which promoted easy-going conversation and purposeful small-talk. 

We Make Nice Websites is currently looking for freelance designers to hire on a per project basis. If you or someone you know is interested in working with us, please send your portfolio to info@wemakenicewebsites.com

Over the last two years of being in business, an inevitable question often arises, “How did you meet your business partner?” Our reaction is usually the same every time… “uhh…we… just met through a mutual friend. This guy named Craig.”  Two years (as of this past Sunday) have gone by since the initial connection was made. We thought it was time to share the true story of how We Make Nice Websites came to be. 

Our mutual friend Craig’s lastname is Slist. In fact, you probably know him too…Craig Slist.  

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Hard to believe that it was almost two months ago that I started as an intern here at We Make Nice Websites. Hit the ground running on day one when I was given the task to help with redesign the new website. Crazy to think that the new We Make Nice Websites site was designed, coded and completed all while I was there this summer. I learned a lot about the inner-workings of how a website comes about and all of the minor (and sometimes major) tweaks that are involved along the way. 

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When it comes to politics, we consider ourselves far from experts. Leveraging social media, however? That’s a little more our style.
 
For our newest client, we have the pleasure of working with Elaine Spaull, Vice President of City Council Representing the East District for Rochester and the Executive Director of The Center for Youth (@center4youth). Elaine is running for re-election in November of this year and came to us for advice on diving into the world of social media. We not only helped her better understand the power of social media, but helped her strategize and design a solution that best suited her needs as a politician and a strong community activist in Rochester. 

As a digital design agency, social media is certainly covered under our jurisdiction and has been for a while, but this opportunity with Elaine has allowed to us to manage, overlook and consult her social media presence. And we must say, we think she’s doing an excellent job herself updating Twitter and Facebook daily with pictures and comments. We’re very pleased she’s found a new way to connect with the community and share her very well respected opinions and events with the city of Rochester. 

Having just launched her social media campaign Monday, we’re still in the beginning stages of the project, but it’s moving right along and growing each day. Check back on Elaine’s Facebook page soon for a custom Facebook page and be sure to follow her on Twitter! @ElaineSpaull 

Nothing like a visit from the media to inspire a little office clean up. We’ve gotten our fair share of press coverage in the past week and it happens to be just in time for some big changes around here! We’ve done a little more clean up around here than simply picking some things off the ground and making sure the paint stain is covered up…

We’ve been hard at work here at We Make Nice Websites on… a nice website! Imagine that. Except this time, we’re the clients. That’s right, we’re getting a brand spankin’ new website and it’s going to be fantastic. But we’ll let you be the judges of that when the time comes.

We’re a web design & development company and you’d think that designing a website would come easily. However, there is something about revamping your own style that leaves makes for quite a bit of uncertainty (ie. changing the design drastically every 24 hours). Luckily, we think we’ve found something that we’re really proud of and we’re working on those special touches as we speak.. err, type?

Stay tuned for the official site launch. In the mean time you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook or subscribe to our Newsletter for other updates!

Oh yeah, and be on the look out for a nifty article in the Brighton Pittsford Post coming soon!

With Google+ out for almost two weeks now, there has been much speculation and discussion as to what it is, if it will catch on, and how Facebook feels about all of this.
 
While we’re not pretending to have any strong opinions on the matter, there are a few apparent advantages of Google+ right off the bat.
 
Circles. Let’s, for the sake of argument, go ahead and assume that your mailman’s mom’s best friend’s dog does not particularly care about your recent discovery of some new technology for web development. Likely story. We’ll go ahead and put them in a circle called “Dogs.” Then comes along your college professor who might find that particular link handy (and might even give you bonus points for doing so). We’ll put them in a circle called “Professors.”  Friday night pictures? Might want to leave your grandma out of that one, if she too has jumped on the G+ bandwagon. Circles are great for delivering information exactly to the people who will likely benefit from it most.

Less Clutter. Much similar to Twitter, Google+ allows people to follow others without the Facebook required friend request accept.  It does notify you of their addition in case you feel so inclined to do the same but in order to cut down on the clutter of information pouring in, you’re able to follow just those you’re most interested in hearing from.
 
Video Conferencing This has yet to be determined as a good or bad thing. A week after the launch of Google+ and their new “hangouts” that allow users to video conference with up to 10 people, Facebook answered with the addition of group chat and Skype-powered Video Chat. Both appear to serve similar purposes so far.
 
So what does all of this mean for We Make Nice Websites?
 
Well, we’re going to have to be patient. Really patient, in fact, as they have not yet determined a release date for Google+ for Businesses. But don’t worry, we won’t be twiddling our thumbs over here for too long, Facebook just hit 750 million users so it seems as though that will be around for a while longer.

Google Analyzer, Twitter Organizer, or Master of Google Docs could all be words used to describe my new position here at We Make Nice Websites. I suppose “the new intern” could work as well.

After one day on the job, I’ve landed the task of revamping the social media approach of We Make Nice Websites. This includes everything from blogging about up and coming social media and web development news, managing all of the various accounts on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and creating a new look for the website!

But first for a proper introduction… I’m Emily Okey and I’m currently one year away from graduating with a degree in graphic design from Rochester Institute of Technology. Although if a degree in Twitter or social media were offered, I could be quickly persuaded to stay for another 4 years. Needless to say, I’m pretty excited to be here at We Make Nice Websites as an intern for the summer with free reign to do some of the things I love most. 

Don’t forget to subscribe to the newsletter and follow We Make Nice Websites on Twitter for updates about the changes around here. The list on the whiteboard is already out of control, so I’m anxious to jump in and get started!

A few months back, Stacey Freed, a Senior Editor at Remodeling Magazine, asked me to share some tips about SEO. What is it? What are some best practices? You get the picture. I was more than happy to share what I knew and hope it helps readers of the magazine with their online presence. (Read the full article)

For the most part, solid SEO is about following the rules. There are web standards set by the W3C and “guidelines” to follow for Google and Bing. These Google and Bing guidelines are not necessarily written in stone, but are a safe set of best practices that have proven successful. 

You’d be amazed at how many “bad” websites are online. I’m not talking about websites that looked bad (although there still seem to be plenty), but websites that were developed by those not willing to follow the rules. As a result, many times the ranking of that site in search engines takes a huge hit.

In addition to a developer just doing what they are supposed to do, your ranking on Google/Bing can be improved by publishing fresh content online that is tied in with your website and using relevant keywords in your site, url, and title tag. For more information on these, you can read the whole article.

If online users are having difficulty finding your website through search engine’s or if you want to rank higher than the competition, feel free to get in touch with us.