Archive about February, 2012

Successful advertising

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

Andy Parsons, from New Homes Company, approached Hooper Graphics to design a series of adverts for an advertising campaign to run in the local newspapers, for their Development of reasonably priced Flats in Redruth, Cornwall. They wanted something bright that would jump out from the page so that people would see it.

Palm Court adverts

As newspapers are printed on a low grade paper quality care had to be taken with the bright colours chosen, but they have reproduced in the papers extremely well.

More importantly, Andy says the adverts have been extremely successful that in the last few weeks, and as a result they have gone from over 50% being sold, to having just two remaining. This proves that advertising can work when you target your audience correctly.

So if you are looking for a one-bedroomed flat in Redruth, you had better be quick!

Commas and Postcodes

Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

I get very frustrated about this one as I see it all over the place, commas before a postcode. Which do you prefer?

9 South Albany Road, Redruth, Cornwall, TR15 2PE

9 South Albany Road, Redruth, Cornwall TR15 2PE

In my mind it is no competition, there doesn’t need to be a comma BEFORE a postcode!

I could give you a detailed description of what a comma does, but basically it splits up a sentence to make it more readable or to give emphasis to specific words.

So to go back to our address, it is relevant to use a comma to differentiate the different elements of the address, so that it is not confusing, until we get to the postcode.

What do you think?

Strong passwords

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

I found this really good article today by Hewlett Packard all about Strong Passwords. It gives some excellent advice about how to make a password both memorable (in other words you don’t write it down anywhere), and also not easy for hackers to guess.

I have lots of different passwords for lots of different uses, so I will definitely be taking this advice on board.

Using WordPress

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

Making the most of your Content Management System

A lot of websites nowadays are built using WordPress, as it has a really good a simple Content Managemet System (CMS), and gives you the ability to edit your own website. It works really well but in order to keep it looking good and resembling the original design or theme, I would advise the following steps.

Screen shot of Content Management System

You probably have the ability to stylise the content and have a content panel that looks just like Word. This makes it really simple but you could make it even simpler.

For example if you have a heading, rather than make it bold, or perhaps change the colour, simply select a pre-formatted heading. This will probably be found in a dropdown menu, look for the words Paragraph and see what other options you have.

Tips on using this drop down menu

  • Don’t use Heading 1, that will probably be the title of your page, and should only be used once.
  • Heading 2, should be your second most important heading.
  • Heading 3, your third most important heading, etc.

Hidden away amongst the code of your website Heading 2 will be pre-formated for a specific colour, typeface weight etc, and  by following this, you will retain the Design or Theme of your website and keep it looking professional.

Incidentally although I have mentioned WordPress, any website that uses a CMS, whether built using WordPress, Joomla, Drupal etc, purchased through Vistaprint or other online systems, or a bespoke CMS, will have these automatic styling sheets.

If you need more help with your Content Management System, we offer a service that assists people to make the most of their system, and you can hire us on an hourly basis. Interested? Give us a call to talk it over.