Strap on a Camera

With a skill or craft that you work on daily, carpenter, carpet fitter or builder, fashion designer artist, or baker, Strap on a camera and go about your day as usual. At the end of the day, upload the videos to YouTube, your blog or Facebook page, giving the world a new way to find out about you. Check out the Vid below of an arborist with a helmet cam showing his day at work. No extra effort, or any deviation from usual work practices is needed. He just strapped on a camera, started filming, did his job, basic chop edit, music overlay and then a Youtube upload.

When looking for cameras, find ones that can easily be mounted to chest or helmets, which ever would suit your work process best (GoPros can come with chest straps).  With “GoPro HD hero” starting at around £100 on eBay, you can start producing really unique content that shows what you do, how you do it, and who you are, whilst concentrating on your day to day work. Look for full 1080HD cameras, as it’s always worth capturing in High Definition considering most devices can now view full HD.

An SD card is often needed, so try to use one with a high write speed (often more expensive) but this allows full HD videos to record without any streaks or audio issues.

With the HD Hero 2 Onwards, a built in Microphone allows you to record audio whilst capturing the interesting vids. This opens up the opportunity to voice over on your video.

Narrate your video and explain what, why and how you’re doing something.

Give a clear explanation as if talking to a friend. Use a free video editor to give some consistency to videos, highlighting important events and ensuring that users don’t get stuck watching the boring bits of your day, when you’re really trying to show off the cool bits.

Resources;

Windows Movie Maker 2012 (For PC owners)

iMovie (For Mac owners )

VSDC is also another good piece of free software.

MicBergsma is the Pro GoProer rigger.

Check him out on YouTube to see all his setup ideas for GoPros - http://www.youtube.com/user/micbergsma?feature=watch

Mitch’s website also sells some cool GoPro mounts -http://www.micbergsma.com/

The most important thing is to have fun, and capture those moments for all to see.

HOORAH! Another WordPress update to streamline the service.

We’ve got some simple yet very interesting new updates to the 3.7 eddition of the  Wordpress CMS.

Security, Automated background updates, improved Search results and Global support with language pack are the major updates to WordPress.

• Updates while you sleep: With WordPress 3.7, you don’t have to lift a finger to apply maintenance and security updates. Most sites are now able to automatically apply these updates in the background. The update process also has been made even more reliable and secure, with dozens of new checks and safeguards.
• Stronger password recommendations: Your password is your site’s first line of defense. It’s best to create passwords that are complex, long, and unique. To that end, our password meter has been updated in WordPress 3.7 to recognize common mistakes that can weaken your password: dates, names, keyboard patterns (123456789), and even pop culture references.
• Better global support: Localized versions of WordPress will receive faster and more complete translations. WordPress 3.7 adds support for automatically installing the right language files and keeping them up to date, a boon for the many millions who use WordPress in a language other than English.

These exciting updates add to WordPress’ already plentiful array of features making WordPress the best CMS! (That’s why Dodo use it )

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE! As a Celebration of the long Mayday weekend, we’re offering all of you Cornish idea makers, a kickstart to get your passions online! Until Monday eve, we’re offering 50% off ALL of our website services, check out our Web Design Services for more information on the packages, or to contact us.

Whether you’re a craft expert looking to sell your wares, or a new Green power group, we can help you out! Farmers to framers, cleaners to crafters, everyone has something to offer, why not offer it online!

Thanks a bunch everyone, and we’ll see you soon!
All the best,
Jon

In recent times it’s become incredibly apparent that being online is one of the necessities of modern day life. Websites are now one of the best ways of showing off ones business or group to a large group at very cost effective rates in comparison to other forms of advertising and media outlets. BUT with so many people scrabbling to get online, some awful websites have sprung up. So it is our goal (starting small) to get Wadebridge Online and looking sexy!

It Started like this…

After having a stroll around town on the usual Saturday pasty run, I clocked over 30 businesses with major shop fronts throughout Wadebridge town, that either have no, or completely unusable websites. It was on that day that I decided to help my neighbours and fellow Cornish entrepreneurs get an online presence that follows with the business’ image, and actually becomes an money making asset to the business.

A good example of how a website can seriously make a difference is Granny Wobbly’s Fudge shop based in Tintagel, Wadebridge and now In Bude! Chatting with Dom Reynolds, soon to be manager of the new shop in Bude, he said that over the past few weeks, (this was in Febuary) Granny Wobbly’s  managed to cover all operating costs of the shops, staff and all, PURELY by online sales and this is usually the hardest month of the year!  The sites follow the design and feel of their outlets really making the customer feel as if they are back in the friendly little shops. Their site, www.grannywobblys.co.uk  is majorly cool at proving my point that getting online isn’t all about getting a Yell page and a Facebook profile, as an online shop, setup with something like Etsy, can quite often be a good way to test the water in the online life.

I always get really passionate about a client’s business especially if they have physical products to sell, as with some playful WordPress craft, I can create an online shop that is to the budget, profitable and easy to maintain.

So if you’re in the Wadebridge area and looking to get online, before you do anything, have a chat with me as I have some tips that might be useful before you start spending hours on Twitter, or Sign Up to God Awful I-page (seriously, avoid them like a cheap kebab), and we can then start to rave about the most beautiful online town in the UK!

Below is a selection of social networking icons from our designers Jon Bennallick, owner of www.jonbennallick.co.uk

All of these Icons are 125px x 125px, along with transparent backgrounds to allow for easy site integration.

Pinterest is quickly becoming the most effective social networking tool for driving traffic to items to purchase as studies have shown that most people use Pinterest with the quest of searching for the perfect purchase. The best thing about Pinterest, is that it’s fun to use and a pleasure to explore of the awesome design, art or general images that get flung around the Pinterest wall.

Twitter is already a big player on the social networking field, with over 500 Million users it hosts as a banquet to anyone interested in anything, from anywhere. It REALLY IS THAT POWERFUL. In fact Google “The Twitchhiker” and you’ll see what I mean. It’s great for sharing little snippets of info that interests you, along with reaching large audiences with relative ease.

Facebook is the granddaddy of all social networking sites. It’s great to get an online presence and still holds users on its site, longer than any other social networking sites, BUT it’s starting to lag. After being thrown onto the stock market, it’s been suffering a little, but she’s still cruising along, offering its commercial users a great platform to place advertising or promotions.

YouTube is the video hotspot of the internet. If you have a video of a cat riding a russian homemade tractor into a volcano, YouTube is the place to get your funtastic video into as many computers as there are people. But it also has its other uses for displaying work projects, current offers, general product advice and much more. After being purchased by Google, YouTube has made it even easier to advertise on videos. Just dig around for research and you’ll find some useful tips around about how to make the most on YouTube, and all the other social networks.

Social Networking is all about contribution and conversation, so the more you perform those acts, the nicer the networks will treat you.

These icons are custom-made for displaying variable size icons, either SUPER large or tiny.

Jon is always uploading more icons, logos and more, so keep your eyes open on his site for updates on branding and more.

The blog is gaining speed and updates will become a daily affair, so keep watching.

Ciao.

It’s on…

Today is the day! 4G is finally being launched by EE (Everything Everywhere) in a selection of cities around here in the UK. After alot of fuss from the competing companies who won’t be live until next year, we now have a mobile network that can offer speeds of upto 40mbps! The “minimum speed for 4G is 2mbps, which is already twice the speed of the Dodo Designers internet connection. So this is a fantastic advancement.

So how does this new speed change the way one operates in the UK?

Well, being a strong supporter of mobile working and virtual offices, 4G really opens up the flood gates to ideas on where we can work, and how we can work. Instead of being tetherd to the £40 per month landline speed of 2mbps at the office, a mobile connection can do 15mbps with ease, from any 4G location giving you the freedom to travel without the worry that your, dropbox is not accesible or that you can’t view that crucial presentation.

4G speeds can also offer the chance to create new businesses built around the fast download speeds. Videos on the move, more complex website desgin, with stockier file sizes, the list is endless!

How would 4G effect your business?

Comment below