Floating Point Media http://floatingpointmedia.com a Fort Collins, Colorado web design agency Mon, 17 May 2010 17:26:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 New direction, new name http://floatingpointmedia.com/blog/new-direction-new-name/ http://floatingpointmedia.com/blog/new-direction-new-name/#comments Mon, 17 May 2010 17:26:14 +0000 Steve Martin http://floatingpointmedia.com/?p=265 Yes, it’s true: Floating Point Media, Inc. has changed its name to Clever Cubed, Inc.

The question of the day: “WHY?” Well, let me explain…

When web design as an “industry” really started out, one guy did the whole site: planning, design, coding, writing, SEO, marketing, etc etc. Over time, the term “web designer” wasn’t so much about “design”, rather, it had become a synonym for “guy who builds a website from the ground up”. But, as you know, things change quickly in the world of the interwebs. As sites became more complex, and above all, business-critical, aspects of the web development cycle became more and more specialized. Businesses began to spring up that did only ONE aspect of “web design” as opposed to being a one-stop shop. My good buddy Jeff over at Rocket Jones Interactive told me that when they switched over to doing nothing but web programming 7 years ago, some people thought they were crazy – “What, now I need more than ONE company to get a site done?!” Well, yeah! And here’s why: As web development gets more and more specialized, websites get better and better. It’s the age-old saying, “Jack of all trades, master of none.” I don’t know about you, but if my business depends on my website, I want some masters working on it, not someone who’s just “okay” at a bunch of stuff.

I founded Floating Point Media, Inc. as a full-service web design agency back in 2004. Back then I did what a lot of web design companies do: tried to be all things to all people – the proverbial “Jack.” This worked out fine for the past 6 years, but as I took a hard look at my business this year, I asked myself some questions. Could I design? Sure – I did an okay job, but there are loads of designers out there WAY better than I am. Could I code? Sure – front end stuff, at least, but I found it tedious. Could I do marketing? Sure – depending on your definition of “marketing.”

So what was my “sweet spot” in this whole website creation thing? Then it hit me one day (after saying it to loads of people for the past year): What I really love (and I’m really good at) is developing the underlying structure of the website and making it usable and effective. In other words, Information Architecture, Web Usability, and UX Design. So I took the leap and decided to change directions and go deeper instead of wider in the web development world. Leaving the graphic design, web marketing and programming to others more qualified, I decided to focus on my area of expertise. Along with that change in direction came a change in name: Clever Cubed, Inc., and a new title for myself: “Website Architect”

To say the least, I’m very excited about the change! It’s very freeing to no longer worry about aspects of my job I’m not the best at, but to be able to focus on and improve the aspects that I love. Hopefully I can also enable my fellow web industry folks to do the same by taking a lot of those things off of their plates when we work on projects together.

And through this change, I hope to be able to encourage you to do the same: Find out where your strengths lie and focus on those. And turn the aspects of your business that you dislike over to someone else, because believe it or not, those things are someone else’s passion, too.

]]> http://floatingpointmedia.com/blog/new-direction-new-name/feed/ 0 My Resilient Life: Bruce McIntyre http://www.clevercubed.com/ http://www.clevercubed.com/#comments Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:43:28 +0000 Steve Martin http://blog.floatingweb.com/?p=133 Author Bruce McIntyre wanted a website to promote his powerful new book “Resilient Life”.  He wanted something “clean, simple, and easy to use, that I can update myself”, which is just what he got.  He also wanted to sell his book online but was concerned with the high cost of shopping cart setup. So we integrated the flexible Floating CMS shopping cart to sell just his book, all easily and inexpensively done.

SERVICES PROVIDED

Web Design, Content Management System, Ecommerce, Web Marketing

TOOLS USED

Floating CMS

VISIT THE WEBSITE: www.MyResilientLife.com

COMPANY LOCATION

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

]]> http://www.clevercubed.com/feed/ 0 Gemeinde Christi Dresden http://www.clevercubed.com/ http://www.clevercubed.com/#comments Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:40:09 +0000 Steve Martin http://blog.floatingweb.com/?p=130 This church in Dresden, Germany wanted a professional website to use in their marketing materials and to communicate with the community. The underlying CMS structure allows the church to update and edit content as they choose, as well as create online registration forms for special activities.

SERVICES PROVIDED

Web Design, Content Management System, Web Marketing

TOOLS USED

Joomla

VISIT THE WEBSITE: www.Gemeinde-Christi-Dresden.de

LOCATION

Dresden, Germany

]]> http://www.clevercubed.com/feed/ 0 Eastern European Mission http://www.clevercubed.com/ http://www.clevercubed.com/#comments Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:34:46 +0000 Steve Martin http://blog.floatingweb.com/?p=125 EEM is an international non-profit organization with offices in 5 countries. They needed a multi-lingual website for their european operations which would allow for online ordering of the books and literature they produce. In addition, they needed an online directory of churches throughout Europe. We used Expression Engine as a backbone, developed a custom directory system and tied it in with the Google Maps API, and used Cube Cart for the ecommerce section of the site. The website is currently in Russian and English, with the ability to seamlessly expand to multiple additional languages.

SERVICES PROVIDED

Web Design, Content Management System, Ecommerce, custom directory service, Google Maps integration, Multi-Lingual Site

TOOLS USED

Expression Engine, Cube Cart, Google Maps API

VISIT THE WEBSITE: www.EEMEurope.org

COMPANY LOCATION

Vienna, Austria

]]> http://www.clevercubed.com/feed/ 0 DataLogix, Inc: NextAction Direct http://www.clevercubed.com/ http://www.clevercubed.com/#comments Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:33:02 +0000 Steve Martin http://blog.floatingweb.com/?p=123 When NextAction Corporation was rebranded as DataLogix, Inc, their direct mail division retained the well-known NextAction name. Their NextAction.net website was updated with the new branding, as well as given a fresh look, while maintaining the familiar elements of their existing design.

SERVICES PROVIDED

Web Design, Web Development, Content Management System

TOOLS USED

MODx

SEE WEBSITE: nextaction.datalogix.com

COMPANY LOCATION

Denver, Colorado

]]> http://www.clevercubed.com/feed/ 0 Floating Mail http://www.clevercubed.com/ http://www.clevercubed.com/#comments Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:09:39 +0000 Steve Martin http://blog.floatingweb.com/?p=51 Another internal project of ours, Floating Mail allows customers to easily build, create, launch, and track email newsletters. The website for this service needed to be chocked full of information explained in an up-front, non-techie manner, and provide ample opportunity for new users to sign up and try the service. We placed a call to action on every page, and used a simple signup form to move the customer to the next step.

SERVICES PROVIDED

Web Design, Content Management System, Ecommerce, Web Marketing

TOOLS USED

Joomla

VISIT THE WEBSITE: www.FloatingMail.com

]]> http://www.clevercubed.com/feed/ 0 DataLogix, Inc: Affiniti Digital http://www.clevercubed.com/ http://www.clevercubed.com/#comments Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:08:33 +0000 Steve Martin http://blog.floatingweb.com/?p=49 Coinciding with the launch of their main corporate site, DataLogix rebranded their online services division as Affiniti Digital.  Using a design provided to us, we developed the Affiniti website utilizing the MODx content management system.  We provided HTML, CSS, Javascript (JQuery), and PHP programming.

SERVICES PROVIDED

Web Development, Design Consultation, Content Management System

TOOLS USED

MODx, PHP

VISIT THE WEBSITE: affiniti.datalogix.com

COMPANY LOCATION

Denver, Colorado

]]> http://www.clevercubed.com/feed/ 0 Floating CMS http://www.clevercubed.com/ http://www.clevercubed.com/#comments Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:05:49 +0000 Steve Martin http://blog.floatingweb.com/?p=46 Although an internal project of ours, Floating CMS had to stand on its own as a legitimate web service. The design is focused on small business owners and had to strike the balance between providing tons of information while not being too “geeky”. We built it upon our own “Floating CMS” content management system (of course) so all pages and forms are easily editable by anyone on staff. We also implemented several forms of internet marketing to drive traffic to the site.

SERVICES PROVIDED

Web Design, Content Management System, Ecommerce, Web Marketing

TOOLS USED

Floating CMS

VISIT THE WEBSITE: www.FloatingCMS.com

]]> http://www.clevercubed.com/feed/ 0 AlpacaKing http://www.clevercubed.com/ http://www.clevercubed.com/#comments Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:28:39 +0000 Steve Martin http://blog.floatingweb.com/?p=14 The owners of the Alpaca King alpaca farm wanted an elegant yet simple site to showcase their beautiful animals. They needed a blog to update people onthe happenings on the farm, an easy way to integrate their current off-site alpaca listing system and sell their products online.  And, of course, they wanted the ability to update and edit things on their site without dealing with the web designer all the time.

SERVICES PROVIDED

Web Design, Content Management System, Ecommerce, Email Marketing

TOOLS USED

Floating CMS

VISIT THE WEBSITE: www.AlpacaKing.com

COMPANY LOCATION

Fort Collins, CO

]]> http://www.clevercubed.com/feed/ 0 DataLogix, Inc. http://www.clevercubed.com/ http://www.clevercubed.com/#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:24:07 +0000 Steve Martin http://blog.floatingweb.com/?p=6 DataLogix needed a completely new web presence for their recent launch and partnership with the Nielsen Company.  We consulted with DataLogix and, using a design provided to us, developed their new website utilizing the MODx content management system.  We provided HTML, CSS, Javascript, and PHP programming.

SERVICES PROVIDED

Web Development, Design Consultation, Content Management System

TOOLS USED

MODx

VISIT THE WEBSITE: www.datalogix.com

COMPANY LOCATION

Denver, Colorado

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