It has been a busy couple of weeks for Crown Point Design as we are excited to announce the launch of six new websites. The new releases include Torrey Pines Town Car, Chicken Charlie’s, Charles Baumgart Construction, Simply Incredible, ProTours360, and Neat-Patch. Each of these websites include their own custom design. It has been a lot of fun to work on each of these projects because they each had their own set of goals, challenges, and target audience.

“Crown Point Designs listened to what I wanted to reflect on my website.  Through their expertise and design skills, they were able to capture the professional and streamlined look I had hoped to achieve on the website.  In addition to providing me with design and layout options, they were able to create the site so that it was user friendly. 
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Search Engine Optimization is a constantly changing topic, but some things remain the same like making your content easy to read for users and search engines alike. This tutorial looks at 5 on-page SEO techniques that will help search engines like Google to better understand the content of your website. It should be noted that SEO is only 1 component of internet marketing, but with all the Google users out there, it is certainly an important one.

Everyday Internet users may not be aware of all the web browsers that exist and which one is the best fit. The space is not that big to be honest. There are about 4 players in the space including Internet Explorer, FireFox, Chrome, and Safari. Along with the advent of smartphones, there are a few other smartphone OS browsers out there, but we will leave those for another discussion. For personal computing, it is important to stay up to date with your web browser for the following reasons.

1. Security – The top reason that browsers keep updating their code is for security reasons. There are many vulnerabilities in old browsers, so staying up to date will help you avoid unwanted harm to your data.
2. Functionality – With each new browser release there is improvements to the user-experience and interface. Staying up to date will help make your browsing experience more efficient.
3. Improvements – Websites are moving towards a new standard called HTML5 in the coming years.
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Finding a hosting company can be a tricky task with all the competition out there. In San Diego alone there are dozens if not hundreds of company’s that offer website hosting. The normal route to find a vendor is to read online reviews. The danger is the content that is out there can not always be trusted.

The competition between the larger hosting companies is so dishonest that companies are leaving bad reviews for their competitors to make themselves look better. Additionally, top keyword searches in Google are extremely competitive including pay per click ads.

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As a web designer, I have spent hours looking at different color combinations for websites, email marketing templates, and other advertising pieces. Color can be the grueling thing that makes or breaks your design, right? Well maybe not, but it sure is important. Ask any graphic artist, interior designer, painter, or fashion designer and they will all tell you that color is crucial to their work.

Take a step back and consider the idea of mixing color after color together and seeing what you get. After watching this video of the work by Holton Rower I think about how color can be used in a new way. As my brother put it, “this might be the coolest way to paint ever”.

So from every website designer to fashion designer I ask you to consider using color in a new way. Experiment. See what happens when you try something new.

A challenge that a lot of people come across is keeping their files organized when working with multiple devices. For example, I access certain website files from a desktop, laptop, and when necessary from my smartphone (running Android). A program called Dropbox allows me to store certain files that I can access from all three devices without save copies all over the place. When the file is uploaded in one location, it syncs with all locations.

Dropbox provides online backup and sync for free up to 2 Gb.
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Update: An interesting question… Will Banksy reveal himself if he wins the Oscar for Best Ducmentary Film? Good Article.

If you enjoy street art as much as I do then you certainly have heard of Banksy, one of the most influential street artists of our time. For the rest of you, go and see his new movie Exit Through The Gift Shop and you will understand why. This recently released film by Banksy will give you a look at the modern day street art scene. By the end of the movie you will be thinking about art in a new way, I guarantee it.

Having seen Banksy’s work in the San Diego Contemporary Art Museum this past summer, I had an appreciation for his work. Since then I have seen his name come up more and more.
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After a commercial have you ever heard people say something like “well that was a dumb ad” and then the entire room breaks into a discussion about the product? If that is the case then the marketing team did their job. The goal of an advertisement, whether it be television, print, or online, is to get you thinking about their product or service. The more you think about it, then the next time you are in a buying mode that brand name will be attractive to you.

With that said there were some commercials during yesterday’s Super Bowl that drew more attention than others.
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Several months ago Google announced the discontinuation of Wave. This was a product that the entire tech world buzzing (no pun intended for Google Buzz users). As I think back to two years ago when there was so much anticipation I have to admit that I too was incredibly anxious to get my hands on the product and be part of its growth. As an early adopter I was part of the first alpha release to select developers to test the product. At the time, there were still several bugs and design flaws that need to be worked out, but I saw the general direction the revolutionary email application was headed. As I step back and analyze the reason for its failure to be adopted by users, here is what I came up with:
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Having a presence in social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and Youtube is critical to your web presence. Linking these together with your own website is an important way to tie together your online marketing efforts. You should think of your website as your central marketing tool. All online and offline campaigns should drive users to your website. For example – blog articles should link directly to your site, tweets should provide a link for more information, and print ads should have your URL listed. These are some of the ways to use your website as a central marketing tool.
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