Wall of Shame : Website Testimonial Thieves

With over 10 years in the web and graphic design business, we have amassed a fine collection of testimonials from our clients, heart felt words that reflect the quality of our work and the level of our service.

It is with sheer disgust when we come across unscrupulous companies/designers who steal our testimonials and fraudulently use them as their own. It is time to “out” these unethical and dishonest cyber thieves  with a wall of shame. If a company is caught using one of our testimonials it will be featured on this page.

Not one of these companies can be trusted.

Media Majik
Stole 3 testimonials.When caught they claimed it was a mistake and were using our testimonials as filler text.>> View our testimonials on a screenshot of the Media Majik site.

Fast Web Designz
All 5  the testimonials on their site were stolen from us
>>View our testimonials on a screenshot of Fast Web Designs

Systemtek Technologies
Here is a Chicago web design company who stole 5 of our testimonials
>> View our testimonials of a screenshot of Systemtek Technologies

SeizePro Design
Helped themselves to 2 of our testimonials and even kept the client names intact.
>> View our testimonials on a screenshot of SeizePro Design

Mpire Solutions
They have three testimonials on their site and 2 are ours.
>> View our testimonials on a screenshot of Mpire Solutions

Compuask Group
Swiped 2 testimonials from our site.
>> View our testimonials on a screenshot of Compuask Group

Nexxpoint
All 5 testimonials on their web site were stolen from us
>> View our testimonials on a screenshot of Nexxpoint

360 Scenes
At least 2 of the testimonials on their site are ours
>> View our testimonials on a screenshot of 360 scenes

Moynahan Multimedia
1 stolen testimonial they use on many pages of their site
>>View our testimonial on a screenshot of Moynahan Multimedia

Pittsburgh IT Solutions
Shamelessly stole 1 testimonial
>> View our testimonial on a screenshot of Pittsburgh IT Solutions

Technical CAD
Guilty of the theft of 1 testimonial, taken down the entire page so there are probably more false testimonials.>> View our testimonial on a screenshot of Technical Cad

Website Design City
2 stolen testimonials
>>View our testimonials on a screenshot of Website Design City

Best Coder
Swiped 2 testimonials from our site
>>View our testimonials on a screenshot of Best Coder

BML Design
Helping themselves to 1 of our testimonials
>> View our testimonial on a screenshot of BML Design

Crystal Eye Design
Stole 1 testimonial
>>View our testimonial on a screenshot of Crystal Eye Design

Hire Web Developer
Stole 1 testimonial
>>View our testimonial on a screenshot of Hire Web Developer

Iqra Creation
Stole 1 testimonial
>> View our testimonial on a screenshot of Iqra Creation

Outsource Website Development Company
Stole 2 testimonials
>> View our testimonials on a screenshot of Outsource Website Development Company

Vikas Kapoor
Stole a whopping 7 testimonials. Would you trust this web designer?
>> View our testimonials on a screenshot of Vikas Kapoor

BrightZone Design
Stole 2 testimonials
>>View our testimonials on a screenshot of BrightZone Design

Simple
All 3 of the testimonials on their site belong to us. They even “forgot ” to remove our company name.
>> View our testimonials on a screenshot of Simple

Prosites Online
Again all 3 of the testimonials on their site belong to us including 1 for Pro Bono work
>> View our testimonials on a screenshot of Prosites Online

SpinWeb Creations
Shamelessly used a testimonial I received for pro bono work
>> View our testimonial on a screenshot of Spinweb Creations

SmartHo
Thinks it’s ok to swipe 2 testimonials
>>View our testimonials on a screenshot of SmartHO

WebTotal
Stole 2 testimonials
>> View our testimonials on a screenshot of WebTotal

May 2012 …the latest offenders

Idea RGV
All 4 testimonials on their site were from stolen from us
>>View our testimonials, displayed on the footer of every page , on a screen shot of Idea RGV

AM2 Internet Design
1 stolen testimonial used on multiple pages of their site
>>View stolen testimonial on a screen shot of AM2 Internet Design

Jay Gendolfe
All three testimonials on this freelancer’s site belong to us
>>View three testimonials on a screenshot of Jay Gendolfe’s site

Sylvester Marketing Group
Both testimonials on their site have been swiped from ours..even some of the copy on the home page of this site has been lifted from ours>>view stolen testimonials on Sylvester Marketing Group

 

Prestige Web Innovations
Lifted one testimonial
>>View screen shot of stolen testimonial

All of these companies/individuals have been contacted regarding the fraudulent use of our testimonials. If they don’t remove the offending copy we contact their hosting companies and get them shut down.

New website for Solon Gershman Inc

Launched today is a re-designed web site for Solon Gershman Inc, a St Louis commercial real estate company.

We completely reworked their old site, creating a fresh new professional look which is easier to use and consistent throughout. The home page features a slide show of properties with easy access to property search tools and the latest company news. The  site  integrates data from a 3rd party property listing service and offers the site visitors a seamless experience.

Just in case you were wondering here is what the old site looked like.

©: 2011 Chicago web designer

Using Twitter to solve problems

Twitter is a great platform for getting problems solved. A quick tweet about an issue and more likely than not you will get an answer, saving you time and aggravation.

Here are a couple of examples of how my Twitter friends have helped me out.

1. GoDaddy coupon fail
   I was having real trouble applying a coupon to items in my GoDaddy cart. Any coupon I tried was immediately rejected.



2. Firefox 4.0
   I upgraded my browser to Firefox 4.0 but the default position of the Home button was causing me aggravation!
   

Look at the time frame of response from both of these, within minutes I had answers to the issues I was facing.  For both of these tweets I used hash tags at the end of the tweet. This can help get your problems noticed faster as many hash tags are monitored. In the case of@goodguydan he was not a follower of my tweets but was monitoring the hash tag #Firefox.

© Chicago web designer

A Teenage Chicago Penthouse, in my Basement!

Who doesn’t love a before and after comparison, I do them for web sites quite a lot, ( here here and here)  to showcase how a few design tweaks can make a huge impact on the appeal of a site. But today I am going to show you how I used my graphic design skills and tools to transform a very dingy, quite disgusting Chicago basement room into a light and airy teenage “penthouse” hang out.

My canvas for this room was horrible wood paneling which has the texture of drift wood but nowhere near as pleasant. I primed then painted everything white, it took 3 coats before it looked good.

Then came the fun bit.

To be certain the skyline idea was going to work in terms of scale and look/ feel, and what colors looked best, I did a little Illustrator and Photoshop mockup.

First I designed the skyline in Illustrator. It was then imported  into Photoshop and superimposed  a photograph of the wall I intended to paint. ( I used the multipy function and distorted the illustrator graphic to fit the wall dimensions) After a bit of color tweaking, playing around with different shade of gray we settled on a simple black and  gray color palette.

Because of the rough nature of the paneling my initial plan to carefully tape off and paint the skyline failed so I ended up painting the whole thing free hand. If you look carefully I did not stick religiously to the illustrator design but it was enough to point me in the right direction. It turned out pretty well.

I have a bit more work to do on the furniture on the other side of the room… more painting which I will share soon!

© 2011 Chicago Web Designer

What color is Chicago Snow?

It is hard to escape the abundance of snow in the Chicago area at the moment. Ask most people what color is snow and the answer will be white. Ask a graphic designer and the answer will be, “white but also  think soft grays, delicate lilacs and even dramatic blues.”

As a web and graphic designer color is one of my favorite “tools” Here are the colors I see in snow.

©2011 Chicago web designer

Tips for Going Paperless

Since moving to Chicago I have made a concerted effort to go completely paperless. It was driven by a sheer horror of the amount of paper work that had built up over 10 years in business and a huge desire not to pack it all into boxes,  transport it all and then never unpack it. Who’d have thought a web and graphic design business could result in so much paperwork? So I purged big time,  my recycling bin overfloweth,  my shredder over heated and eventually kicked the bucket.  I pared down my paperwork from a huge ugly filing cabinet/cupboard, to a single, well organized draw. I gave away the unsightly filing monster so I could not revert to my old ways. It was so ugly the only person who wanted it was a scrap metal merchant.

Now five months down the road I am sticking to my guns and feeling liberated. Here are some of the things I do to keep the paperless system in smooth running order

1. Sign up for paperless statements and  billing.  From utility companies to telephone providers. This has saved me a ton of unwanted paper and some companies will actually give you a credit for going paperless. Setting up accounts is generally a simple process and most offer an archive of statements, billing history etc, so it is easy to find everything and look up past bills.
2. Organization. Just as a paper filing system works best when maintained in well thought out folders, the same is true for a paperless  system. It takes very little time to set up computer folders but is essential to have an effective system. Setting up email folders is a great way to keep track of automatic payments and statement alerts.
3. Don’t download everything. When I first started my paperless campaign I felt the need to download every statement/invoice etc and file them away in my carefully crafted computer folders. But what is the point of filling up my hard drive when I can quite easily access everything I need via the accounts I set up online. Now I only download and file what is absolutely necessary.
4. Backup. I backup on an external hard drive.
5. Don’t print anything out unless you absolutely have to.

© 2011 Chicago web designer

Business Owners, are you using Google Offers?

Moving my web design company to Chicago a few months ago has kick started a re-optimization of my web site to better serve my new Chicago location.  I have also created my business  profile in a number of local business directories such as Yelp and Merchant Circle to build  a local reputation.

In my quest for relevant directories I came across Google Offers today,  a FREE marketing tool which works in conjunction with Google maps.  If you would like to take advantage of this, here is the Chicago web designer’s tip of the day.

1. List your business on Google Places using your Google account login information. Company name, address, telephone, email and category are required fields. Optional fields include hours of operation, photo upload e.g logo,  description, and even a video upload.
2. Verify your business. This is easily done by an automated phone system – the quick way or via a PIN sent to the business address. Once verified your business will appear on Google maps.
3. On your main Google Places Dashboard click “Offers” and select +add  new offer
4. Complete the offer form and hit submit.
5. Once your offer is live you can edit, pause or delete it.

Here is the offer I created today: Free website review

Enjoy!

©2011 Chicago web designer

A new visual illusion: Silencing

I am a sucker for visual illusions as can be seen here and here. Now there is a new one:  Silencing.

Play the video below and focus on the white dot in the center. To start with it is easy to see the dots are changing color, but as the disc starts to rotate they become static. Or do they? In actual fact they are changing all the time.

2011 ©: Chicago web designer

A Website Freshen Up

Can your website accommodate changes in your business? When designing and developing a web site this is an important consideration. Your web site needs to be able to easily change and grow with you without going back to the drawing board.

We practice what we preach with our own website and launched today is a mini overhaul of our site. There is no major redesign just a few tweaks here and there to better serve our visitors and behind the scenes some updates for the search engines to reflect our new Chicago location.

We have added a couple of new pages detailing our branding and social media services.

The entire updates were done very quickly thanks to the way the site is coded. For most of the changes we needed just a few lines of code switched out in the style sheet.
© 2011 :Chicago Web Designer

Happy Christmas from the Chicago web designer

As much as I embrace American traditions some of my British traditions have yet to fall by the wayside. Every Christmas I make a “Christmas cake” which is a rich fruit cake ( I can hear the gasps from here..but when made properly they are quite yummy) covered in marzipan and iced with royal icing.  This battered old  Father Christmas (Santa) always sits atop. See here for a previous years cake

Merry Christmas from the Chicago Web Designer!

©:2010 Chicago web designer

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