Ho Ho HoTML5 Templates!

So for the last few weeks I've been slowly working my way back through my current selection of HTML5 templates...updating them and getting them ready for the new roll-out. Doing some end of year maintenance and gearing up for the holidays...so I won't really be doing anything major again now until after the new year.

Here are a couple of template preview pics...I'll be redoing the demo videos and posting them to YouTube.

  

I had to go through my graphics inventory and make sure (as sure as is reasonable, anyway) that all the fonts and images and other media I'm using is all legit for commercial use and resale....I think I'm pretty much set now.

Also started a new ad campaign for the social mediaverse...this is just the first tiny sampler:

Have a Merry Christmas and we'll meet again after the holidays!

C2Kstudios

Going to Get There Soon!

So I have this idea about a new marketing strategy that entails me pumping out these HTML5 templates. I'm wondering how it will play if I advertise them as hand-made (they're all hand-coded now, no Wordpress or other builder software used), uniquely tailored sites that are almost like works of art...my plan is to make really basic ones available through sites like Fiverr and then offer more elaborate ones on C2Kstudios.com. I'm also going to look into sites like Odesk; I can also offer extra services like hosting, PHP security and basic SEO setup - making sure that the meta tags are up to par. Building quality backlinks is a lot of legwork - that's how SEO companies make their money, is through their networks and affiliates - you're basically paying for access to already well-established lists of sites. Building backlinks is not what I want to be spending my time doing. I think I might know someone with access to that kind of thing...it could prove to be a great partnership if that's the case. I need to ask a few more pointed questions, though.

Right now I'm working on a rebuild of my family history website, and once that's done I'll be able to throw all my effort into getting some templates up and putting the word out. I've got years of inspiration to fall back on, as I intend to go back and rebuild some of the old ASAW sites into templates, too.

I intend on updating the main site alongside as well to emphasize the hand-coded aspect. You're not going to get something that looks like another Wordpress blog. Keeping in mind that I am completely self-taught - as I get more and more fluent with the code the designs are flowing easier.

The Fall 2012 Update is now Online at C2Kstudios!

So for the past few months I've been coding like mad...first building the family site, then it was on to recoding the three main sites into templates for use in my upcoming marketing strategy...now I'm in the updating phase...main site, kids' site, family site....all the while cultivating my battle plan for advertising...I haven't really done much of that this year...but I definitely want to focus my attention on the templates and basic coding jobs that i might be able to garner from sites like Fiverr and ODesk...but I want to have all this other stuff out of the way first before I start on that...I'm going to want to put all my efforts into it. Right now, between having the kid during the day and the job at the pub, time management is the only thing making any of this possible, and the only way for me to so that right now is one thing at a time.

So, obviously, I'm updating all the social media stuff right now, too. So here are some updated images for you!

C2Kstudios.com

Summer's Over?? WTF!?!...

Where has the time gone? Summer's done and the oldest is back to school...well technically summer has three weeks left to go but the time has come for me to start getting serious about designing again. Having spent the last few months working in a pub kitchen has taught me that I don't want to be there next summer....not unless I can get daytime hours! When that patio is full....it's like being at the gym for 6 hours. But I work hard and I get along with everyone, so the odds are in my favour.

I've had a couple of major art projects on the go the last few months too...gifts for family. Now that they're done I've moved on to designing my family history website...it will be secured just like my other family site but eventually I will also make that template available on C2Kstudios.com.

I've also been seeing more and more discount and crowdsourcing options, sites like Fiverr and Odesk...and it's starting to make me rethink my business model. I just now drastically slashed the pricing on C2Kstudios.com, and I've got to start busting out some simple HTML5 templates to sell for $5 a pop...also little logos to go along with them too, maybe. I'll let the idea percolate in my head while I get my new subdomain ready to launch.

And I suppose I should try and update this blog more often too...although to be honest I'm not much of a blogger...but of course I need to be able to say that I know what I'm doing, right? That's why I opted for teaching myself how to write HTML5 and CSS3 and how to manipulate Java and PSP scripts (perhaps one day I'll learn to code those from scratch too), instead of going the WordPress route. Again, eventually, I'll want to check it out just to be able to say that I know how to do it, enough people use it or at least know what it is that I can't really avoid it forever...like Facebook. And knowing all that stuff will just make WP that much simpler to master. Besides; I like designing my own sites. I know that I'll never be a coding guru but as I get more comfortable with it, the designs will begin to flourish.

Gearing up for Summer!

This past month has been pretty crazy...getting back into working again, finishing up my first major corporate contract, starting on some a couple personal projects, and getting the place ready for summer. The kids have been a handful lately, too...everyone's energy seems to pick up this time of year, but mine not as much as theirs!

I also just dropped my co.cc domains...well actually, I have them forwarding now to the subdomains I set up for them from the main site at C2Kstudios.com. Apparently my host doesn't like it when you get no hits in a month... the family site hasn't been updated in a while.

So ya, I took a job in the kitchen at the local pub...some nice mindless work that gets me out of the house and around some other adults for a few hours a week...the extra money doesn't hurt, either! Mindless as in auto pilot...being back in the back of the house is like slipping on an old pair of really comfortable shoes. 0 learning curve is what I'm all about right now...so I can save my brain power for getting back into coding again once I get these other projects out of thew way...they're secret (gifts) so I can't say too much about them before they're done but I'm going to try and stick with the whole "one-thing-at-a-time" idea that is the reason I've come as far as I have with things so far this year...not bogging myself down with too many projects at once is a very good thing. Although in the summer...who wants to be inside all the time? So there's that. Time will be at a premium, at least for the next little while. But as soon as I find the right groove, it'll be all good.

Been Busy Busy!

The last month has been ridiculous. What with the way of the world today, things just started costing twice as much, and so I had to go out and find a part-time job...I fell into something pretty sweet too, (which is usually how it works for me - I just seems to find myself in the right place at the right time when it comes to stuff like that), so the pressure is off, there.

Around the same time I got a call from my Uncle Mark. He took over my grandfather's business about a year ago, and now he wants me to help redesign his packaging and promo material for the international market. My first "corporate" design job! Very exciting. He had this idea that he wanted whipped up for a trade show in China next month, but soon came to realize that you can't just bang out an international marketing campaign in a fortnight...especially considering the fact that everything has to be done via email...unless he wants to fly me out to Vancouver for a week or something, which I wouldn't be adverse to at all... ;) ...it's been too long since I've been back 'home'.

Anyway, so the initial concept got shelved for the time being, but not before I was able to collect this:

 

Which felt so f*ing awesome! So then I went ahead and re-did the poster, without the mascots he wants to have created for his future campaign, and came up with this design for his China conference:

At full size, it's 3'x6', and because it's going to be positioned behind a table, he had me move everything up on the page as high as possible.

What are Colo-Majic flushable liners, you ask? Well, back in the 90's my grandfather had a colostomy, and subsequently invented a disposable liner for the pouch that ostomates have to wear. Now, Papa is in his 80s, and has decided it's time to pass the reigns. I'm sure he still has plenty of input into this new direction my uncle seems to be taking the business in...and probably will for a while yet; knowing that side of the family, he's got another 20 years in him, easy.

A New Look and a New Beginning!

Welcome to the spiffy new C2Kstudios Blog! I am right now just a couple of hours off soft-launching the 3rd edition of C2Kstudios.com, followed by a day or two of field testing before the official roll-out, either Monday or Tuesday. I was originally aiming for March 20, the vernal equinox this year; but I hit a couple of snags and so ended up a few days late. Oh well. Not like I'm getting paid for this!

First, my old host, 0000free, called it quits. So that was a couple days worth of frantic re-deployment. It actually went a lot more smoothly than I was expecting, though, so it all worked out OK. And I think I probably could and should have gone with these guys in the first place, but anyway, hats off to my new host, 2freehosting.com!

Then, circumstances decided to arrange themselves in a way that necessitated my needing to seek some part-time employment; and to start a mad push to try and generate some local business. I produced a brochure that I intend to deliver door to door in the neibourhood, and I'm hoping to get a night gig somewhere soon.

And then, Spring came to Ottawa. I mean, the equinox is one thing; but 23C in March is like a magnet that pulls you away from anything that isn't outside. Especially with the kids; forget it. I though she was going to want to nap out there under a tree.

Well; gotta get back to it...see you in a few hours!

C2Kstudios.com

We're all excited about the new C2Kstudios.com!