Welcome to a few of our favorite things digital holiday edition blog! We figured we’d take the wholesome goodness of Julie Andrews, tie it in with the enthusiasm of Oprah and wrap it up in a nice little list of digital goodies for all to share! Without further adieu, we hope your bookmark folders overflow this holiday season!
Anne Ewing, our Director of Sales, starts us off with two data packed websites that she regularly keeps tabs on. All I can say is that she must have been a teachers pet growing up.
“Mashable – can’t live without it! As a forever student, especially in the digital space, Mashable provides me the latest digital, business, tech, social media, entertainment news. It is my go to resource and guide for digital culture. They put it best in their own description…”Mashable is THE largest independent website dedicated to news, information and resources for the connected generation, reporting on the importance of digital innovation”. Did you know over 100 Mashable articles are shared EVERY minute on social networks. That says a lot!”
“eMarketer, a leading research firm in the digital marketing space sends me a valuable tool to my inbox every day, their newsletter. I know, it sounds un-exciting, maybe even boring, and sometimes, the data is just that, but more often than not, eMarketer provides me with information to help me stay in tune with the digital marketplace, trends and emerging technologies. As digital media and marketing race forward, eMarketer provides me with essential insights to not only understand, but capitalize on the speed and direction of digital change. Yea, I stole that directly from their “About Us” page on their site, but it speaks oh so true, at least to me!”
He might not ever admit it, but I’m pretty sure that raindrops on roses rank in Michael Miller’s top five favorite things. 😉 As our resident digital strategist however, he never feels sad about internet marketing with the following two tools.
“SEO Moz is absolutely essential to the success of a good internet marketing campaign. With the Panda update it is more important than ever to ensure that your “on page” content is structured properly for your keywords goals. Moz has tools to help you accomplish these goals. Another wonderful resource I use is the Moz community. It is a place where like-minded professionals can discuss advanced techniques and get feedback from a set of their peers. Moz was very smart to reward participation within the community by setting up a scale where interaction can be rewarded with a “hot link” from your profile.”
“Copyscape will keep your content secure! When search engines speak, industries listen and when Google stated that “Content is King” internet marketers became obsessed with relevant fresh content. Creating and ensuring content is original is what Copyscape does best. You simply plug in your content and it will generate a report. If your copy appears on another site it will tell you where that copy is located. This tool is invaluable to securing your content.”
If I had to guess, I would say that a modern day Maira von Tapp would be a big fan of Lolcats instead of whiskers on kittens. Similarly, our resident web developer, Margaret Velez, is always the first in the office to share the latest trending internet sensation. When she’s not busting out line after line of code, you’ll probably find her perusing one of these websites.
“WebDesignerDepot.com is a great resource for web designers and developers. They have nifty and informative articles daily. While other e-mail newsletters in my inbox make me cringe, I honestly look forward to opening theirs everyday.”
“Sequel Pro is another one of my favorite tools. I’m a sucker for a beautiful interface that’s so easy a five year old can use it. This MYSQL database management application is my fav. I mean their icon looks like a stack of pancakes, what’s better than that?”
Similar to Oprah on any given day, you’ll either find our technical director Mark Hagerty asking the really tough questions or screaming out loud in victory. Lucky for us, his screaming doesn’t sound like a goat. Below are two of his favorite digital resources.
Sublime – A code editor that’s intuitive, simple and efficient. It contains all of the functionality you need, without any of the bells or whistles that tend to get in your way.
Sourcetree – Quite frankly, it allows intuitive management of project collaboration and version control. This provides a simple GUI for Git repositories while also allowing Command line execution. Powerful when you need it to be, simple when you don’t.
Our fearless leader, Robert Lennon, has a lot on his plate, also like Oprah, (too much?) so these two apps help him keep everything in order.
Evernote – I’m a note taker, I document almost everything, ideas, meetings, the works. Evernote has eliminated the need for pen and paper by creating a virtual environment for documentation that syncs seamlessly across multiple platforms. All my notes, musings, and ideas are stored and cataloged in one place, all accessible from any device I happen to be on.
Wunderlist – “I manage multiple business and have a wife and four kids. List making is essential to maintain sanity in the norms of everyday activities. Wunderlist is a simple listing application that is virtual, syncs automatically, and can have multiple users on lists that can be updated instantaneously. Now, I never forget anything on a trip to the store, or a critical to do list for the day. Got to run, my wife just put diapers on our shopping list.”
The office is alive with the sound of music when our graphic designer Michael Calitri is around. When he isn’t belting out random songs in the office, he focuses his design inspiration by browsing the following two websites.
Dribbble – “When I need some design inspiration for a project, or just want to see new work by super talented designers, I turn to Dribbble. Dribbble is basically a global network for graphic designers to post and categorized their work, allowing users to like and provide feedback/comments. Since users have to be invited by other members, the skill and work quality of users are generally professional and incorporate the latest design trends.”
Smashing Magazine – “I try to visit this site weekly to stay abreast on digital design and UX trend. Smashing Magazine is a great online resource for digital designers and developers, offering tutorials, new industry trends, workshops and an extensive publication resource library.”
From me, the normal work day is a constant juggling act. During the day, I’m a sucker for any resources that helps me stay focused. At night, I’m a sucker for anything that provides a chuckle. Below are two of my favorite things.
Toggle – “The likes of Benjamin Franklin and Kei$ha would agree, that keeping track of time is of vital importance. Especially the likes of us account managers. There’s three reason’s why I love this widget; it’s free 99, easy to use and has an mobile app to boot. Tracking project time becomes a slightly less gory battle with my team with this gem of a tool.”
This Advertising Life – “Have you ever had just one of those days and wonder to yourself “Why me?”? Well it’s not just you. With perfectly selected gifs and amazing one liners to match, This Advertising Life often provides the solace that I need at the end of a hard work day. Or on any given day. If you’re in the industry, every single post will give you a chuckle, guaranteed.”
Now that we’ve told you our favorite things, feel free to share yours!