Time again to monitor and check the performance of our new WP based Semiomantics XO 2012 Script on search engines.

Here’s a screenshot of yesterday’s post “Portraits of Africa 2012″ on Google – have a look! Positions 1, 2, 3 and 6 ahead of 10,800,000 search returns – YEBO GOGO!

When looking up “Portraits of Africa 2012″ on Google, I also checked how the images in my article were ranked – here’s the detail of the screenshot showing the Image of a “Young African Girl” on position one, followed by the Image of a “Young African Boy” on position 4… and a small ad I created ages ago peeking at us on position 2. All of them ahead of our South African presidents… just too funny! The young generation is on the move!

It becomes even more intrigueing when we look up “Portrait of Africa Images” on Google and find these young faces of Africa featuring amongst some really classy photography! And again… the random positioning is just too weird… for those who read this and understand what I mean! Welcome to the future :)

Fact is, that with the increasing importance of images and media on the Internet – and with this for our website development – … and people preferring to look at something for quick grasping of the contents rather than reading long time-consuming – and even worse: thought-provoking -  texts… that the correct tagging and classification of photos and images becomes more important. Here as with any post what counts is to be found on Google – Google Top 10 that is. Noone else looks further…

Congratulations to our young friends who’ve made it to the top ranks and find themselves in interesting and attractive company! There will be more….

Young African Girl from my series “Portraits of Africa 2012″.

Portraits of Africa 2012 – untouched… straight from my simple NIKON Coolpix P90 … just the magic of a Young African Girl.

Although the black & white version adds a specific note, I preferred to show the soft gold tones of the skin.

Within my photo series “Portraits of Africa” here is the image of a young African boy.

I just love Black & White Photography and how it adds depth to a picture, especially portraits and expressive faces.

“Portraits of Africa” are shot on a simple NIKON Coolpix P90 with a minimum of post-editing, ideally nothing at all.

We are pleased to announce that the Conference Services website  “Hakamela Conferencing & Event Management” will soon be under construction on Semiomantics XO 2012.

Hakamela Conferencing & Event Management will open its doors in Pretoria, South Africa. This high-demand Service Company  will be run by professional Conference Management Expert Lynn Sakuinje.

Web Design South Africa will be designing a simple, practical and user-friendly website that will target top 10 positions on Google under the relevant keywords and focuses on high visibility on the mobile web.

I just got some screenshots directly from the iPhone in Europe to demonstrate how the new Monkey Valley Resort Website actually looks on the Mobile web – and I’m absolutely thrilled! The quality and resolution are just outstanding and I left the image big so you can appreciate it here even though the picture may take a moment to load. This is soooo sexy!

Above, you see the Frontpage of the Monkey Valley Resort Website, which features a large elegant slider displaying the various chapters and attractions of the hotel resort 30 kms out of Cape Town, South Africa. What is remarkable here is how beautifully the slider displays – all based on new technology as, sadly, Flash does not display on mobile phones and this forced us to adapt in our Semiomantics Website Development, learning new languages like CSS3 and HTML5.

Much if not most of today’s business on the Internet is piped in one way or another through the mobile web… a reason why Monkey Valley Resort had to be visible on mobile.

Here is a horizontal version (probably 1 : 1) … and of course you can zoom up text or whatever you are interested in… and get to where you want to go in a fast and user-friendly way, eg. Click and BOOK!

The Importance of Functionality in terms of Website Design has a lot to do with the ease and user-friendly interaction between the website and the website visitor: the website has to communicate to the visitor what it is all about in an attractive way, guiding through what it has to offer and fulfilling almost intuitively what the visitor is looking for and making it easy to follow through with the desired action – say to book a room in a hotel…, to buy, pay and even download say an ebook… or to simply offer various sights of a specific area or place that shows the visitor what he can expect, eg. in a holiday resort or when researching a new home in real estate.

Today, being visible on the mobile web is crucial to the success of any website or Internet business – and therefore one of the most important functionalities of a website or blog.

Nowhere more than on the Internet do we see such rapid and continuous change and do we have to adapt, learn new languages and keep developing our knowledge and skills on an ongoing basis as in the virtual arena. A website or blog is not built to last forever and it needs a regular allocation of funds (budget) – it’s a project in constant development, adapting to the changes, changing with the trends and always trying to offer readers and visitors something new, something modern and going the extra mile to capture the traffic that leads to business and success.

I was always touched by gorillas and I just love Nature and its wildlife, however, this short video about a close encounter with a family of gorillas in Uganda was sent to me by a friend and mutual wildlife lover… I invite you to see this and admire what a wonderful world we are living in! I just love Africa, where you feel the heart beating deep down from the earth and each single day is filled with surprise, magnificence and thrill.

Here’s the video that I simply call “Touched by Gorillas” – no need to explain or say anything… and especially those of you who know game reserves and camps can appreciate this wonderful experience to the fullest.

Imagine you sat there with your camera… I had quite a similar experience in the mountains with a wild troop of baboons… but gorillas are something else!

The above picture leads to the original website – thank you for allowing us to share this with the world!

Here’s today’s example of TOP SEO Performance on Semiomantics XO 2011 (soon to be updated to XO 2012):

Earlier today, I wrote a small article for Monkey Valley Resort on “Best Tapas in Cape Town” as that’s what Darren Byrne from Thorfynn’s Restaurant at Monkey Valley Resort wanted a photo of on a hot Saturday afternoon yesterday.

While his interest is that a maximum of people see the News and visit his restaurant, my goal as a web designer is to ensure the message I put out on the Monkey Valley Resort Website reaches Google Top 10 – meaning a maximum of traffic and visitors to the website. Here’s the resultrank 7 out of 709,000 search returns and climbing! Ammmazing – Ole!

A day earlier, I prepared the brand-new menu en al for “Best Valentine’s Dinner Cape Town” on 14th February 2012 at Thorfynn’s Restaurant HERE and – lo and behold – captured position 5 within a few minutes… and -as I just tested – am holding it to this moment without further intervention or support – see the screenshot here (click on it to enlarge it):

And to end this post, the day before I followed a request by Monkey Valley Resort founder Judy Sole to promote ‘a bit more beach’ – and did a simple article “Visit Noordhoek Beach”. This post just shot up to spots 1 and 2 on Google Top 10 :

…and as I saw just now, after 2 days, it has captured even spot 3!

No doubt: Monkey Valley Resort has chosen simply the Best Web Design South Africa on Semiomantics – high SEO optimization, a captivating design and high functionality! Unbeatable and proven on a daily basis!

And as the Internet becomes increasingly sophisticated… quality counts!

In a world of infinite choice, we all have our personal preferences when it comes to creating the Web Design for our personal websites and blogs – and this is exactly what many of our customers will tell us, especially if they have a business with set colors, fonts and logos. Of course, there are also those who haven’t thought about this issue, who may not want to be bothered with it (as this takes ample time and thought) and who expect us to suggest, advise and guide. This is where we should know and focus on current trends, put our personal priorities on the backseat, and design something fresh, modern and appealing where we are absolutely “Trendwise with Semiomantics XO2012″, which is currently going through a testing phase and will soon be released.

Most importantly, we need to think forward to adapt to the incredible developments and momentum on the mobile web: can people see our web design work on their iphones, smart phones and tablets? This is currently the driving power behind many decisions and as we want our customers to get the traffic and results they expect, this is what we need to focus on and ensure that they too see the advantages of certain essentials they might not initially agree with.

It’s all about functionality and thinking customerwise: let them see what your website is all about fast and in an attractive way, make navigation clear, quick and easy like a dynamic show. And let there be balance!

With the new trends 2012 having been set, how can we at Web Design South Africa be trendwise with Semiomantics XO2012, the best WordPress based script to be released soon, and give our website or blog a New Look 2012?

Here are a few pointers as to how to give your Author Blog a Trend 2012 Look:

I already wrote about the Color Trend 2012 HERE.

To repeat it quickly, the color of the year 2012 is a warm orangy red called “Tangerine Tango”.  It’s not too far off the color I am always using in my personal color scheme that marks “Web Design with Passion”. However, there are other trendy colors like ‘solar power’ and the ‘sodalite blue’ I used in my example above, in connection with ‘tangerine tango’.

Here you want to think of backgrounds, fonts, menu, graphics, links, hover effects etc. – however, don’t overdo it when setting it off against another shade or complementary color. What I learned in Typography many years ago with one of Europe’s two leading authorities in the field and a true friend, Professor Tuenn Konerding (Staatliche Kunstakademie Duesseldorf, Germany), still applies today: experiment massively… but then reduce, keep it simple, don’t use more than 2… maximum 3 colors.

I wish I had a better photo – but I am happy I can call at least this one up – for an extraordinary mind and spirit that left our planet far too early…

Interesting also the trend towards one-page websites and a comeback of the magazine theme (full layout Semiomantics XO). Of course, Apple-style layouts are still en vogue as they are a modern classic and simply good.

The focus is on bold letters and custom fonts that can easily be read on mobile phones. Interesting here the Google Font Library that can be added in form of a plugin and loads fast while making the look of the website more appealing.

Textures, shades and reflections are ‘in’ as well…

Less text but large, high quality images – meaning all forms of sophisticated Media Design – be it photos, graphics, videos… – especially for backgrounds but also for graphics, sliders (we will come to these) and whatever you integrate into your Website Design to attract and captivate.The use of light or shadow boxes – where pictures can be enlarged in an overlay-  is very much in the trend.

Actually, we have been ahead of this trend with Semiomantics XO 2011 already, and particularly with our comprehensive work on Evolution, my personal favorite… yet unfortunately on Flash which is currently not seen on mobile phones due to power plays between the ‘big boyz’ … but this too shall change one day once even they get it that ‘competition’ is out and ‘cooperation’ is in to save our planet – and this is NOT a trend but a Truth! Ask Steve on Cloud!

Meanwhile Evolution will… well, evolve!

And yet another feature where Semiomantics has been well ahead of the trend: sliders are en vogue! Besides that, in my view they are brilliant, practical, interactive, attractive, seen on the mobile web and add to the functionality of a website. At tleast the ones we use – they do come at a cost, but it’s well worth it – quality always had its price!

Finally, websites and blogs need to offer easy ways – meant are rather ‘loud’ icons (… I leave this to your personal taste…) – to interlink and connect to Social Networks like Twitter, Facebook, Google + etc. Today, people look out where they can connect, follow, share and register … and so the cybernet expands continuously and I sometimes wonder what all of this really means at the end of the day and for our environment! But that’s a topic for another day!

For now… let’s be aware of current trends and advise customers accordingly… there’s lots to play with!

As I have to get a completely new system with more RAM and punch to handle especially future Video production esp. as we are integrating more and more Media into our online website developments, I asked a close friend who is a Master Editor who trained professional editors for the German film- and movie industry, what he would suggest. He immediately advised to get AVID as “…it’s the industry standard around the world.  That’s what professional editors and post production houses work with today. ”

Hmmm. I must just have missed the beginnings of AVID when I left Europe to build a new future back home, in South Africa, as from mid 1995. Apparently the time when AVID as the first NLE achieved dominance in the market place and established itself as “the” brand. According to Mark Raudonis, “… AVID’s were universally adopted by any editor doing a film finish. Obviously, these were the cream of the crop of the industry’s talent.”

So I have to catch-up and make some serious decisions especially as AVID comes at quite a steep cost. Given the fact that I actually enjoy working on ADOBE Premiere very much, just being immensely handicapped by limited memory until I get my new machine, but that my future vision rotates around Media production, this needs some serious research and thought.

Interestingly, I see and hear from various sources including Cape Town professionals and Filmmakers’ Forums that ADOBE is being prefered and “… better value for money”. In a way, they put it down to personal taste – like “Cola vs Pepsi”. This all sounds quite controversial, although I get the impression that AVID is better, faster, more feature-rich and the professional standard, but definitely much more expensive and a steeper learning curve. There is some eye-opening discussion – also with some reference to pricing – in this FORUM. I do not know whether these answers came mainly from consumers of professionals. But it’s intrigueing… and if there’s anyone out there using either Premiere or AVID for their professional filmwork, I would appreciate some feedback.

So there’s quite some (recent) discussion as to whether one should be choosing  “Premiere Pro or AVID” on the Internet when checking it on Google.  As FCP is no option anymore, at least not now, the question is what we plan to do in terms of video editing: is it just for fun or do we have serious intentions to produce on a professional level. A good editor will certainly get good results on either but may have access to many more additional tools in an Editing Studio than a private person, however, from what I read it is worth looking at the AVID Media Composer and getting the hand on the trial version to see what it offers. There is quite some comprehensive setup – also for sound – and I personally like the look of it. Hopefully, I can find a machine in Cape Town just to get the touch & feel of it too and have a chat with the editior working on it. If it’s not for now, it can be part of the plan and once the right jobs come in the investment will be justified.

However… if I can achieve good results with ADOBE Premiere that would just be perfect! One just never knows until looking at things in depth, comparing them and knowing one’s purpose and – means!

And at the end of the day I like a good glass of fresh, pure water!

Cape Town Weddings are a hot topic on Google right now as the Mother City and South Africa as a whole are exploding with the most glorious summer weather and Nature is in full bloom. However, at the end of the day, the best Cape Town Weddings don’t depend on a specific place but on the intention of the people gathering to celebrate the happy event! It’s always about the people – family and friends – who bring their love, joy and genuine goodwill to bless the new couple and ensure that they will be remembering their wedding day as the happy beginning of their united lives.

Of course, it’s also high season for photographers and videographers who aim at shooting the best moments of these Cape Town Weddings – each one with their specific style – some super-glamorous, others more journalistic or with an artistic touch, some like it colourful, others simply black and white. What is important is to capture the atmosphere and those very unique instants – mostly totally unexpected – that have a profound meaning and really touch our heart. In this respect the wedding preparations leading up to the event may be just as important as the wedding itself – and – as on this photo here – there are many things going through a loving mother’s mind when she ‘releases’ her daughter into a new and promising bond.

I was asked why I was preparing a Wedding Website when normally people go for a so-called “Wedding Album”?

Well, one doesn’t exclude the other … and a form of a wedding album was delivered already to satisfy all those who wanted to see photos ‘now’, almost as it happened…. – however, and especially in today’s Internet-oriented world and with so many families being spread across the planet, there are many advantages to having a wedding website:

Firstly, you can seal your new bond by buying your new name (as a .com of course!) – it has something solid and lasting to it, don’t you think? That’s a good start…

Second, a wedding website can be fast and easily viewed on many devices by anyone who is given access from all over the world, and this for at least 35 years!

Third, a wedding website can be very interactive; friends and family can leave comments and, of course, the new couple can continue writing and adding pictures, videos and audios of their new life… like an online family-bio…

Fourth… and this I think is simply the best: you can easily turn a Wedding Website into a Family Website … adding the new events like the birth of a child, its first steps, its first drawings, its first so many things… as well as trips to exotic holiday destinations, their favourite recipes, when he meets the Queen or Donald Duck… or anything of importance that the young couple wants to share…

Fifth: a wedding website is a brilliant investment in your future, it is something that’s alive, vibrant and communicative – and it’s growing… extending that first moment when you gave meaning to your words into the future with all its promises, traps and surprises… for sure something your grand-children will enjoy !

Last but certainly not least: this wedding website belongs to YOU – it’s not exposed to the volatilities and risks of any social network where someone else is in control – no, this is entirely YOUR STORY – YOU ARE IN CONTROL!

And that alone is priceless!