Utilizing our core competencies of interactive design and development, Mudbug Media has worked with the National Wildlife Federation on the creation of the organization’s new online music store – www.nwfmusicstore.com.

Making Beautiful (Nature) Music Together

Cory Zeitzer, our Director of Business Development, has worked with NWF extensively over the years, and was a driving force in the solidification of this fresh brand partnership. His insights served as guide to the collaboration of Mudbug Media and Puretracks Entertainment in the production of this site, the first branded online music store dedicated exclusively to the ‘Nature Music’ genre.

NWF’s Music Store features music from the Solitudes Collection, and includes everything from bird songs and ocean sounds to piano sonatas and lullabies. Each track features the highly esteemed sound recordings of Dan Gibson, the Juno Award-winning environmentalist and nature cinematographer.

Helping the Gulf Coast and Beyond

Proceeds from the sale of music on this site will go to benefit NWF’s various conservation and environmental clean-up efforts nationwide. In light of the recent Gulf Oil Spill disaster, the group’s dedication to these causes is especially appreciated by those of us here in New Orleans.

Going forward, the Mudbug Media team looks forward to the opportunity to promote this music site and its offerings through ongoing marketing efforts. Again, it is an honor to work with the NWF team in creating a better future for our environment and America’s extraordinary natural treasures.

How You Can Help

Whether you’re looking for a ‘green’ way to support the National Wildlife Federation’s service efforts, or enjoy the beautiful sounds of nature music, please visit www.nwfmusicstore.com. Your support is greatly appreciated.

We want to know what you think.  Tweet, write on our wall or leave a comment below.

By the Numbers

3 tips for Building an Effective Landing Page.

4 ways to Keep Your Hospital’s Website Clean.

3 Twitter tools to take away from the BlueGlass LA Twitter conference.

10 Tips for Designing Mobile Websites.

Chart

More and more businesses are Warming up to the Mac.

Design

Abduzeedo has a great article about a Psychological Study of Web Designs.

Penguin Classics is celebrating its 75^th anniversary in publishing by letting you design your own classic book cover in the Speaking to the Past contest.

Six Revisions: useful information for web developers and designers.

Marketing and SEO

How Infographics Create Organic Links for websites.

Keyword Targeting: The Essential Guide for Website Owners.

The Paradox of Promises in the age of word of mouth.

Why Consumers Connect with Marketers via email and social media.

Bing Solidifies Growth as Yahoo loses share in Q2.

The next big thing for marketers: Social Magazines.

How the fashion magazine industry Plans to Profit from Digital This Fall.

Updated Bing Webmaster Tools.

Examining the differences between Email, Facebook and Twitter audiences.

Tips to help you Assess Your Email Opt-In Process.

Can’t wait for the next link round up?  Check back here everyday to see what we are interested in.

The plan was to add Quicksand to the team page of our website, which is a great place for this type of application.

Smooth Shuffle

The idea behind Quicksand is to create an easy transition between sets of data that overlap at some point.  This seemed perfect for our team page because some of our employees work in more than one department, and it is very hard to visually represent that type of overlap in an easily understandable way.

I set up Quicksand on the team page so you can choose from six different categories, and the pictures for everyone in that category will shift over into a smaller group.  The shifting effect is really where the beauty of the plugin is, with each picture sliding smoothly into place.  Most of the work I put in to this project involved making sure all of the data groups were correct and making sure the site worked properly in all of the major Internet browsers.

Results

Everyone has been really pleased with how the team page turned out, and I think it makes sorting through our staff here much easier for visitors and clients.  This plugin has helped reshape our website and avoid navigation problems as we hire new people and the Mudbug Media team continues to grow.

Click here to see Quicksand in action on our team page.

Let us know if these links are helpful or if we’ve left something out.  Tweet, write on our wall or comment below.

Google News

Google updates maps results in web search.

Google is Conducting Focus Group Research into social networking.

5 Things Google’s Latest Patent tells us about links.

A Chart

Time Spent On Yahoo hits an all-time low.

A Book

Jeremy Keith’s HTML5 For Web Designers.

Advertising and Marketing

Tech Firms Tout New Online Ad Formats that are supposed to outperform banner and search ads.

A look at Data Blindness in the SEO world.

A few YouTube Best Practices you might not have thought of already.

Turning Brand Advocates into believers.

Double-Digit Growth again for online ad spending.

5 Email Marketing Mistakes to avoid.

Twitter gets a Video Ad Network.

Engage your customers in 3 Simple Steps

A Tool

PIE – Progressive Internet Explorer.

And a Podcast

Mistakes We Have Made featuring Avinash Kaushik.

Can’t wait for the next link round up?  Check back here everyday to see what we are interested in.

When the agency is Mudbug Media… plenty.

In case you haven’t already noticed, it’s really hot outside right now. Since we have officially entered the annual Air Conditioning Awareness Days, I thought it would be appropriate to focus on this essential bit of technology that we all depend on a bit more than is strictly necessary.

Beat the Heat

Although our nationwide and smaller out-of-state clients are sharing a bit of our outrageous summer heat this year, New Orleanians are a people deeply devoted to our air conditioning. Unfortunately, our high ceilings, hardwood floors, raised houses and ceiling fans can’t quite do it all to keep us cool without air conditioning.

Even before the Gulf oil spill reinvigorated the topic of energy conservation, monthly utilities had us talking about ways to chill out without too much of an increase in our carbon footprint or power bills.

Each year, Americans spend more than $22 billion on air conditioning alone, all in an effort to stay a little more comfortable at home or in the office.  While it may not be glamorous to be a little warm sitting on your sofa or at your desk, paying attention to air conditioning can save a lot of money and energy.

Green is Good

At Mudbug Media, we talk a lot about our community service, but are much quieter about our commitment to going as green as possible … which isn’t always easy.

Although we haven’t quite succeeded at going entirely paperless, we are as close as any office I’ve seen. We don’t have filing cabinets.  Important data is stored in our server room – and on backup servers off-site. The server room does have to stay cool, but each of us moderates our own office temperature.

You’d be surprised how many of us resist the standard temptation to refrigerate ourselves all day. Personally, I consider it a dual benefit – less energy consumption at work and less water consumption at home. (You’d be amazed at the summer laundry reduction if you don’t wear sweaters at work when there’s a heat index of 104 degrees.)

One Step at a Time

As you read this at home at work, try to think of a few ways that you – yes, you! – can reduce your reliance on air conditioning.  It could be a small step.  Add one degree to the setting on your thermostat. Drink something cold or indulge your ice cream craving to chill from the inside out. If your home or office has ceiling fans, use them.  If not, discover how easy it is to install one or track down an energy efficient fan that doesn’t require a ladder or overhead work.

Little changes go a long way. We can all do our part … even the poor souls who wear full suits to work during July in New Orleans.

Here’s a look at some of the sites Chris and Antonio turn to regularly for tips, analysis of current events and inspiration.

Search Engine News

Search Engine Land – This site has tons of valuable material covering Google, Bing & search industry news, as well as the yearlong PPC Academy series.

Search Marketing Now – This site offers webcasts, whitepapers and resources for online and search engine marketers.

Google Resources

Google Webmaster Central Blog – Google’s official blog for news on crawling and indexing websites for the Google index.

Inside Adwords – Google’s official blog for news, information and tips on AdWords.

Official Google Analytics Blog – The best source for information on updates to GA as well as tips.

Google Analytics Application Gallery – The Official Google Application Gallery featuring several great web applications built using the Google Analytics’ API.

SEM Implementation

Open Graph – Facebook recently created the Open Graph protocol to bring the rest of the Web to Facebook in an effort to rival Google’s web footprint. Additional metadata allows a site to rank within Facebook, and it also increases content share-ability by having site visitors publish site content, such as blog posts and news stories, to their friends via their News Feed.

Asynchronous Tracking – Google recently updated their Analytics Tracking Code and this blog gives step-by-step instructions on how to migrate to the new code.  The main benefit of asynchronous tracking is faster load time, which has recently become a factor of Google’s search algorithm.

LunaMetrics – LunaMetrics has accumulated a wealth of information and resources over many years of working with Google Analytics and Website optimization, and they like to share the most useful tips on this site.

Local SEO Resources

Local Search Rankings – Regionalized SEO comprises a large part of our SEO focus, so this particular blogpost offers tips for optimizing Google Places and Google Local Business Listing.

Local Search Optimization – This one is specifically for Google Maps and Google Earth.  It contains information regarding the utilization of KML within XML Sitemaps, an advanced SEO technique beyond standard issue, local SEO.

Online Marketing Resources

eMarketer –This is a go-to site for online marketing tips, trends and statistics. eMarketer typically covers topics such as social media strategy, demographic and online trending as well as industry news and opinions. eMarketer is also a great source for charts and graphs on the above topics.

Marketing Sherpa – Similar to eMarketer, Marketing Sherpa is a how-to guide on topics, such as ecommerce, email marketing and search marketing. It is also a great source for charts and graphs on Web marketing trends.

Let us know if you find these links useful by commenting below.  We always enjoy feedback.

Here’s a look at our trifecta of award winning efforts:

HADAKI

The website we designed for lifestyle bag manufacturer HADAKI is a great example of ecommerce at work.  The site looks beautiful and displays the wide variety of high fashion bags and accessories HADAKI has to offer, but the most important thing about that particular website – and the reason I think it won a bronze medal – is the integrated checkout feature.

Application developer Michael Misshore implemented the latest ecommerce technology to make sure the site’s checkout feature was seamlessly integrated into every visitor’s experience.  After all, any retail outlet is only as good as its checkout line.  In the online world, there really isn’t much use for an ecommerce website that doesn’t make it easy for a customer to actually purchase products online.

Over 50 percent more visitors have checked out HADAKI’s site since we revamped the shopping cart, evidence that this site has become more profitable as well as award winning.

Ursuline Academy

Ursuline Academy’s website has the honor of being recognized as the best school website in the New Orleans area.  I think this is true primarily because of the level of customization our designers and developers were able to bring to the site.

Although we chose WordPress as a CMS to allow for easy content updates, you’d never be able to tell because of the specifically tailored design. Visiting Ursuline’s website is just like visiting the school.  You get the same up-to-date information that you would find on a bulletin board in the hall outside the office on Ursuline’s Uptown campus.

The website features a traditional design, good functionality, easy navigation, a surplus of current information and really shows off the school’s personality and culture.  The news feature combines the immediacy of daily announcements with the wide reach of the Internet.  Alumni, supporters and parents have an convenient way to keep up with special events, sports championships, reunions and announcements.

Choose Ochsner

The Choose Ochsner online ad campaign for Ochsner Health System was a success on a number of levels.  Working in conjunction with Bohan Advertising, our graphic designers, lead by design manager Ashley Segari, created a successful ad campaign featuring four custom ads and a landing page designed by Mudbug Media.

We also ran a host of analytics on the campaign to monitor its direction and determine overall effectiveness.  Media and Analytics Strategist Chris Cook determined that the initial phase of the Choose Ochsner ad campaign generated over 18 million impressions in the New Orleans and Baton Rouge areas between its January debut and April finale.

Since it opened in 1942, Ochsner Health System has become one of the most widely recognized healthcare providers in the region, but they still need to keep the public updated on technological advances and new options as they become available.  The Choose Ochsner campaign was created to highlight the wide range of specialties and services that support this familiar brand’s motto, “Healthcare with Peace of Mind.”

Taking Pride in our Work

All three of these awards represent outstanding online achievements for our clients, but my favorite thing these awards bring to light is the impressive span of our service offerings.  We have in-house solutions for all your ecommerce, design, development, analytics and marketing strategy needs right here at Mudbug Media.

We didn’t need to outsource a single bit of code, design or development to complete these outstanding and award winning projects.  I think that just goes to show the depth and breadth of the talent, creativity and ability of our team.  I congratulate everyone on their excellent effort, creativity and passion for their work.

Mudbug Media truly understands what it means to be an interactive agency.  We’re not your father’s ad agency.  We’ve always been online and we know what it takes to integrate the online world with traditional media.  If you’re looking for someone to truly get your message across all of today’s media – from newspapers to iPads – give us a call, send an email, a tweet or write on our Facebook wall.  We’d love to win some awards for you.

“Mudbug Media has always made an effort to recruit programmers, graphic designers and marketing specialists right out of college,” said company president Scott Zeitzer. “Technology is constantly evolving and the tools we use everyday are being constantly updated — it is in our best interest to go out and find talented young graduates who are passionate about and well versed in the latest technology,” he added.

Elise Hotard, Graphic Designer
Graphic Designer Elise Hotard designs custom websites as well as online and print advertising projects. Prior to joining Mudbug Media, Elise interned with IM Marketing Group and W. L. Gaiennie and helped secure two service learning grants with Louisiana Campus Compact. Elise earned her BFA from Nicholls State University with a concentration in Graphic Design and a minor in Business Administration.

Samantha Barnes, Graphic Designer
Graphic Designer Sam Barnes specializes in motion graphic design. At Mudbug Media, Sam puts her design skills to work creating custom websites and designing online and print advertisements. Sam won a 2009 AIGA New Orleans Design Award of Excellence for motion graphic design. Sam has worked as a graphic designer for Sunburst Media and as a printer and graphic designer at Kwik Kopy. She also earned her B.F.A. from Nicholls State University with a concentration in Graphic Design.

Here are a few of the many, many websites the design team at Mudbug Media go to every day. Pretty much every designer contributed to these links, which are great resources for anyone involved with graphic design.

Usability Resources

jQuery Tools — This site features a collection of the most important user-interface components for today’s modern websites. The Demos section is extremely useful for designers to visually experience behaviors and functionality that help make a user-interface successful.

Pattern Tap — Pattern Tap was born out of love for the best user interface designs on the web.

UserPlus — UserPlus shares usability knowledge with web designers, web developers, usability specialists and all others interested in creating user-friendly websites. I particularly like their article on Information Architecture because it stresses the importance of defining a website’s structure before starting the visual and technical side of the design.

Color Resources

Kuler — Kuler is nice for both color inspiration and for building a color theme for a project. Color conversions are viewable simultaneously upon entering color values for HSB, RGB, CMYK and Hex colors. If you have values for one color model but need to translate it for another, Kuler makes things pretty easy. And you can save created themes, which is nice for future reference.

0to255 — This website is a color variations web app. It is a simple tool that helps web designers find lighter and darker colors based on any color.

Colour Lovers — Colour Lovers is a creative community where people from around the world create and share colors, palettes and patterns. This is a great site for color inspiration. I like to go to this site especially when I have one color in mind for a design, but need ideas for coordinating colors. They provide some great color combinations that I would never think of.

CSS Resources

Campaign Monitor — Guide to CSS Support in Email Clients — Designing a custom HTML email newsletter that renders consistently across the major email clients can be a very time consuming and tedious process. Campaign Monitor put together a time-saving guide of popular email clients across desktop, web and mobile email. When designers have issues trouble shooting e-newsletters, this is the first website I send them to.

CSS Tricks — CSS-Tricks is a web design community for CSS inspiration and other web-related technical resources.

Design Blogs / Technical Resources

Smashing Magazine — Smashing Magazine delivers useful and innovative information to web designers and developers. I read this website daily to learn new design techniques and see best practices, read about the latest trends in web development and get inspiration. I also follow them on Twitter and subscribe to their e-newsletter for all things web!

A List Apart — This website explores the design, development and meaning of web content with a special focus on web standards and best practices. The A List Apart Team consists of some of the best and brightest individuals in the web world including founder Jeffery Zeldman, creative director of Happy Cog and Eric Meyer, a semantician and technical editor.

Design Float — Design Float is a social media site dedicated to the design industry. Like Smashing Magazine, Design Float is a great resource for designers to gain insight and inspiration. It also takes advantage of the social media platform and allows designers to easily share these resources with one another.

Noupe — Another great resource I have bookmarked.

Design Galleries, Tutorials and Inspiration

Communication Arts — Communication Arts is a nice site to see work that people are creating across various design media, whether seasoned professionals or emerging young professionals. CA has a lot of inspiring things to see as well as interviews of professionals in the industry.

Design*Sponge — This website is dedicated to home and product design run by Brooklyn-based writer Grace Bonney. Design*Sponge is dedicated to covering student design; national, and international design shows. The website features do-it-yourself tutorials and interviews from a myriad of artists.

Jason Santa Maria — Jason Santa Maria is an extremely influential graphic designer that I just love. He has worked on projects that would be any graphic designer’s dream including Typekit, Objectified, WordPress, AIGA, A List Apart and Dictionary.com, just to name a few. He has a beautiful website and informative blog. I would encourage any designer not familiar with him to get familiar.

This list is by no means complete, but every link helps inspire and instruct us everyday.  What are your favorite design links?  Leave a comment below.  We’d love to hear from you.

Communication is a very simple, yet endlessly complex process.  At its most basic level, communication is simply an exchange of information.  The complex part is to find effective ways to transmit information from one point to another without a breakdown, and doing so can be the key to success.

Listen up

At Mudbug Media, one of our top priorities is establishing and maintaining effective lines of communication with our clients near and far.  Everything we do – at every level – relies almost entirely on effective communication techniques.

Most client relationships begin on a very basic level – with a meeting.  We sit down with our prospective clients to build a foundation of information.  We have to determine what type of marketing service, website or application the client wants and what the budget parameters are before we can create a rough timeline for the deliverability of whichever services we are providing.

After asking questions, listening to answers, asking more questions and repeating the process until every detail is clear, we can begin working toward a finished product.  From there, the communication shifts gears as Mudbug Media employees convert all the information gleaned from the client into the desired end result.

Inside out

Internal communications at Mudbug Media run the gamut from old fashioned face-to-face meetings to securely stored data on internal servers.  In addition to a weekly company-wide meeting, each department meets individually every week to keep informed on every ongoing project.

A single job will work its way through the marketing, design and programming departments several times, with communication flowing freely every step of the way.  Once we understand the goals of the project and how our work fits into the overall business plan and long-range goals of the client, we can move forward with the task at hand.

Once a job is complete, the follow up service begins.  If you are a Mudbug Media customer, our phones are always on and our inboxes are always open.  A real live person will gladly pick up the phone and talk any of our customers through whatever problems may arise, and there’s a really good chance the person handling the fix also wrote the code or designed the application.

In a similar vein, our account executives and client service specialists take pride in keeping up to date on every development.  We have challenged ourselves to make sure we are doing everything we can for each and every customer, and that all depends on communication.

While communication is essential, it can also get lost in the shuffle as things progress.  It’s worth revisiting basic methods of communication and paying attention to the flow of information going into and out of every client interaction.  That’s what Effective Communication Month is all about.