Rebel Media.

Planetworkx.com the virtual entity has spread its wings and moved from the digital world into green space reality. A design and development company called Rebel Media now resides in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Rebel Media a web design company with a focus on you and your customers. We have been delivering effective, "big idea" creative web site designs for our clients throughout Malaysia and the Middle East. If you are looking for a fresh, forward thinking, results driven, Kuala Lumpur based web agency to deliver your next assignment, then you've come to the right place.

Contact us now for all your design and development needs.

THE REBEL MEDIA
18 Jalan Awan Makmur, OUG Square, Taman OUG, 58200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
T: +603-7784-4090
W: www.therebelmedia.com
E: info@therebelmedia.com

Email Marketing Pros & Cons!

To mention a few points on this topic, one would have to search for the cons of email marketing. This method of marketing is the most favourable way of communication. Information can be distributed immediately to a wide range of people at a very low and affordable cost, unlike other advertising methods that cost a lot because it involves paper work.

This is one of the best online marketing strategies that are available today. If the website is attractive then the marketers can track the return of investment in a better way by getting more visitors to the site. In this way companies too are able to send out individual emails to various receivers at a low to zero cost without spending on paper advertisements that are exorbitant.

The receivers on the other hand receive the message in their inbox instantly and most respond to the companies if the product is required by them. Most companies that do email marketing give much information on their products while offering prepackaged lists that are meant for the customer’s benefit. This gives the customer a complete know-how and it would induce the customer’s attention towards the product advertised.

On the other hand the company that advertises through e-mail marketing is able to get immediate results of their campaign by just counting the number of clicks and getting to know the number of people that visited their website. In this way the advertiser can get to know what went wrong and rectify the fault immediately to get better response from customers. This is definitely not possible with other advertising methods.

The pros keep mounting more and more since email marketing is definitely the best way to market one’s products. The marketer is convinced that thousands of viewers are visiting the site at one time and surely the response would be good if the site is attractive and informative.

Talking about the disadvantages of e-mail marketing, one can think of just one at the moment. The major problem that viewers as well as marketers face is the spam mail. With the increase of spam mail these days there could be a slight hindrance in the mail marketing strategy. It could divert the attention of the customers with the wrong information of a particular product or service.

Customers are confused with such mail that either get right into the inbox or find a place in the bulk mail folders. The spam laws are to be followed very carefully in this case and email shoppers are meant to check the authenticity of such bulk mail before visiting the sites.

Sometimes genuine mail too gets blocked by firewalls that protect spam messages. This could hinder email marketing to a certain extent. Another disadvantage could be the response from the customers. Initially the response and queries would be good, but one can’t keep them interested till the end, just a few responses will continue.

What is a good layout?

To sum up June and as we head into summer I would like to leave all of you with an insight into what makes a good layout.

A good layout works
It does what you set out to do. You need to know what the purpose of the piece is, who it is for, and where it will be seen or how it will be distributed.

A good layout organizes

It maps out a visual path for readers to follow - shows what comes first, second third and so on. You must present the information in good order to make your message as clear as possible.

A good layout attracts

It grabs your readers' attention and pulls them into your piece. It has to stand out from the crowd by being different from everything around it. Depending on the environments and that can mean being startling, pretty, surprising, entertaining, unusual, or simple and direct.

The process of making a good layout is similar to doing a jigsaw puzzle: 
You keep putting the pieces together different ways until they all fit comfortably.

iFrames good or bad?

I like to think of iFrames as little windows on websites that content peaks through. It’s not really on the page, but is being displayed to the user as an element of that page and more often than not, blends seamlessly into the surrounding design. From your browser it can be difficult to determine if content is on-page or is being displayed through an iFrame, but from an SEO or search engine perspective, it is oh-so-evident.

Two iFrame Scenarios: Your Domain and Theirs
As an SEO, under most conditions I would recommend that my clients NOT use iFrames to display text/ content on their pages. In the end, unless there are very specific circumstances, having on-page content is the most beneficial to the website in terms of search engine optimization.

But what does it really mean for SEO? There are two scenarios I would like to discuss here. First of all, when the content displayed in the iFrame is from another site/ domain and secondly, when the content is from the same domain, but a different file.

When the Content is Theirs
This one’s pretty simple. When the content displayed on your site through an iFrame is from another domain, your site does not benefit from this content. Even though it’s being displayed on your pages, it still is being pulled from another source and does not live on your domain. Therefore, your site is not benefiting from the frequently updated and content-rich resource.

When the Content is Yours
A not so simple situation is when the content being displayed is hosted on the main domain, but is being pulled to the pages through an iFrame. If the source URL is a spiderable URL, the crawlers can follow the path and spider the content on the page feeding the iFrame. It’s good that this content is actually on your domain, but the problem is, it’s not actually being attributed to the page it’s being displayed on. Basically, once they enter the iFrame page, web crawlers are not able to fluidly crawl through additional site links.

To Summarize
In the end, it’s really best to include content on-page when it is supposed to be part of that page. It doesn’t do your site any good to have content displayed on your pages, but hosted on another domain, and it stifles optimization and spider ability when iFrames are used to display windows of text from other URLs on your own site.

Money for Designs?

Why Money Shouldn’t Motivate Design.

The more I considered the question above, the more I realized that design has very much become a part of who I am. My point is, work is something that I have to do to survive and design is something I do because I love to. The fact that these two meet appropriately is something to ponder upon. Plus how many people do you know who do what they love?

This realization brought me to the conclusion that money isn’t in fact a primary reason behind my addiction to design. So what are the reasons for this obsession? What are the ends that justify the means?

Creation
Designers, architects, painters, construction workers, sculptors and welders have one thing in common: the act of creating something. We tend to build something, then crack open a beer (or Sprite if you prefer) and just stare at it for a while, not quite ready to move on. The sense of accomplishment and even self-pride is strong in these moments. Whether or not we had fun creating or cursed and spat our way through the entire project, that contemplative outcome is the same.

Learing
As a web designer I have no end to the list of things that I feel that I should be learning. HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, Ajax, WordPress development, database management and countless other technologies are enough to make anyone feel overwhelmed. Yet we’re secretly excited as well aren’t we?

People
The last motivating factor that I’ll discuss for design is people. Many designers, though certainly not all, are driven by a love of interaction with other people. As a designer, you help your client express things that they are incapable of expressing on their own as effectively as they can with your aid. Whether they’re selling doughnuts or raising money to cure cancer, helping them gives you a sense of purpose. Some designers unfortunately hate their clients, and for good reason.

While our profession certainly has its hermits, many of us simply love the richness of the human interaction that a creative field brings. The money of course is a much needed source to survive and lets face it who does not love money?

A good web host.

A web hosting company is a company that holds websites, and the information they contain, for an individual or a company. There are a multitude of these companies now available as web hosting and the Internet continue to expand at phenomenal rates. So with all the companies out there, how does one choose which is best for them? When choosing a web hosting company, there are a few things to keep in mind.

A good web hosting company will make sure that they have enough resources available to offer it’s users stability and reliability. This means that they will only take enough customers as their equipment and servers can handle. Bad web hosting companies will just sell as much as they can, without worrying about they kind of service they are providing. This could lead to the customer’s website being down all the time and this in most cases, is unacceptable.

Whichever web hosting site is chosen, the customer needs to make sure that the company has excellent security. This will keep hackers from getting on your site. To do this, make sure that they have back up servers and that the customer is given access to the root menu. Because it is the customer’s website, they should be able to gain access to it at any time.

Any good web hosting company will have much technical help available to the customer. These technicians will maintain the server where the information is kept as well as fix any minor problems before they turn into major ones. A web hosting should at least have a twenty-four hour support service, and may also have live chat services available. A web hosting company that is not as good is one that is often down and not available on weekends.

Stock Photos the pitfall!

When picking up stock pictures for your website don’t be tempted to grab one of the cheaper versions to save a few bucks. The one thing that should determine which size you choose is the size of the area you will be placing the photo into. If you can’t afford a photo that meets your size requirements, find a new photo. Never, under any circumstances, think “oh well, the designer can just make it bigger.” This will lead to a sloppy, pixelated images which alone can dramatically reduce the perceived quality of the design.

Well as for me, my reputation and the quality of work I promise to deliver, I have never be afraid to stand up and tell the client that a given image simply won’t work because of size restrictions. Since I have been hired as an expert and have an obligation to the client to point out any big mistakes they are asking me to make on their behalf. I take tome to explain that a low resolution image will just not cut it. Having said this, it is always better to pick up a high resolution image so if you are planning on adding the said image into a brochure your all set.

Few points to remember when picking up stock images

• Try not to use pictures that don’t relate well to your content.
• Overused pictures.
• Imagery that looks outdated or non-professional.

To sum up, when you are in a situation where you must use stock imagery, make sure you do so with extreme care. Take the time to find the right piece of art and to make it even better using advanced, professional Photoshop techniques.

Useful Stock Images & Photos

www.photolibrary.com
www.istockphoto.com