[ By Jessica Behal on March 4, 2010 ]

Search Optimization and Marketing

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an essential part of the development and marketing of a website. There are six main areas of SEO to focus on in order to have a successful campaign. 

1. Keywords
2. Organic Optimization
3. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Marketing
4. Link Building
5. Marketing Optimization
6. Analytics and Reporting

Below are some recommendations for each area that NewCity uses to drive Search Engine Marketing.

[ By Rebekah Godshall on March 3, 2010 ]

Are You Indispensable?

That's the subtitle of Seth Godin's latest book, Linchpin, and the question he puts to his readers. But that is not what I took away from it. I walked away from this quick read asking myself, "What is my art?"

Godin defines art as "a personal gift that changes the recipient. The medium doesn't matter. The intent does. Art is a personal act of courage, something one human does that creates change in another..." And, he dedicates an entire chapter to the "powerful culture of gifts." It was these ideas that most inspired me and really made me think.

[ By Brian Maddox on March 3, 2010 ]

Photoshop Tip: Kuler and CS4

 I use Kuler all the time to explore color themes for comps and in developing branded colors for clients.  Getting those colors into Photoshop or Flash has always been a clunky export then import kind of process.  Come to find out that Kuler has a direct extension window within these CS4 applications.  Kind of makes sense, but a lot of designers overlook it or simply don't know its there and it can be extremely helpful. 

[ By Phil Pélanne on February 16, 2010 ]

In The Clouds

Why Virtualization?

The last several years have seen a move towards the buzzword compliant world of cloud computing.  Cloud computing is a somewhat nebulous term that has been used to describe all kinds of web-based services, from mail to storage to hosting.  

At NewCity, one of the ways we're leveraging the cloud is by using the services of virtual server providers.  This has allowed us move from the monolithic model of running physical web servers in-house to a much nimbler model in…

[ By Brian Maddox on February 11, 2010 ]

So what is NewCity Labs?

Our bread and butter are following through on ideas; making "What if we could...?" into something real. We do it for our clients every day. Most good ideas happen through bad ideas or the need to make our lives a little easier.  NewCity Labs is about seeing good ideas come to light and learning through exploration. Everyone has ideas, they come to us usually when we aren't trying to have them – in the shower, in line at Starbucks, pumping gas. What we seldom do is push them to the next step (which is sometimes the garbage) – or follow a tangent concept that comes from that initial thought.