Armadillo Goes Paypal
December 5, 2008
Armadillo Studios is excited to announce we have now adopted “Paypal”:https://www.paypal.com as a new form of payment for all of our client transactions.
Not that this is a relatively new concept, but in effort to improve our clients bottom line and our own; we are excited to give our clients this avenue of payment. While, we will still accept the tradition methods or payment; here are some of the benefits to our clients by using Paypal.
# *Convenience and Speed* – Instead of mailing or arranging a time for a drop off, you can now pay the remainder of your invoice online through any major bank account or credit card.
# *Take Advantage of your Credit Card* – We understand that finances with small businesses or start-ups can be a rocky road, but with Paypal you can now clear your invoice instantly through your Credit Card. Even better you can use this transaction to gain some valuable Business Reward points for Travel or other expenditures.
# *Paperless Transaction* – In this green age, sometime it’s nice to do all that we can for the environment. While this won’t dramatically change the world, this is something we can do to limit the amount of Paper used in a transaction. Because Paypal is an online transaction, you will receive an email detailing the entire transaction.
# *Security* – Paypal is an “industry leader”:https://www.paypal.com/ca/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/Merchant/popup/WaxAboutPaypal-outside and an internationally renowned client for secure transactions.
Starting February 1st, Armadillo Studios will be implementing Paypal as a new method of payment. If you would like to move forward with this form of payment for all transaction, please contact us.
Holiday Cheer! New Wallpaper For All
December 1, 2008
To celebrate the upcoming Holiday season, Armadillo Studios is releasing a new festive wallpaper for your desktop.
Yes, feel free to celebrate Christmas with Milo (Our playful Armadillo mascot) and the Armadillo Team, by sprucing up your “Windows XP or Mac desktop”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctoverdrive/3068031565/ or even one of the lucky few with the “Bumptop Desktop Application”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctoverdrive/3068868934/in/photostream/.
!http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3213/3068868934_9c661546d7.jpg?v=0!
So feel free join us in the holiday spirit and download our latest desktop.
Download:
Download:
With that we wish you and yours all the best over the Holiday Season and a fantastic 2009.
The Armadillo Team.
Categories: Armadillo Downloads,Fresh Ideas
LinkedIn – Should You be Using it on Your Consulting Site?
November 12, 2008
Do you know what “LinkedIn”:http://www.linkedin.com is?
Our guess is that you’ve probably never heard of it. Which is definitely fine?
At first glance, LinkedIn looks like another run of the mill social networking web site, albeit a professional version of Facebook. Just another Social Networking tool to post a profile, update for a couple of months and then ignore once the next fad comes around.
Unfortunately, that assumption would mean that you are missing out on a very powerful self-promotional and connection tool, especially if you’re a freelance consultant.
First and foremost, over 30 million users are currently utilizing the LinkedIn Social Network and that number is growing daily. Secondly, when used correctly, it is one of the most powerful tools to increase your professional online presence. (For a list of ideas on how to use LinkedIn, “read Guy Kawasaki ‘s post on the ten ways you can use Linkedin to enhance your connections”:http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/01/ten_ways_to_use.html ) Using LinkedIn’s connection matrix can garnish you dozens of new connections within any given Industry. In addition, you can utilize LinkedIn’s profile links to increase your search engine strength for your own personal web site. But more importantly the Discussion threads and Industry groups on LinkedIn can provide you a means to demonstrate your expertise.
And it is this final reason that we truly believe is LinkedIn’s greatest benefit and why, for our clients in the Southern Alberta region, *now is the time to get on the Linkedin bandwagon*.
We believe that establishing yourself within your key industry on LinkedIn or providing thoughtful comments to open discussions is a great way to increase your profile’s views. And the more profile views you can garner, the more likely you’re going to appear in a project managers or HR representatives search on _Industry Specific Consultants_.
One of the trends we’ve noticed is that the Oil & Gas and Energy Industries is one of the most poorly under representative groups in the LinkedIn network. Couple that observation with the growing popularity of LinkedIn within the Calgary/Southern Alberta region and this is a perfect time to start marketing yourself as an expert in _Oil & Gas Mineral and Contract Administration_ or as an _Energy Sector Consultant_. In particular to start curtailing your profile to attract people in this underrepresented market. (You can “view one of our profiles here”:http://www.linkedin.com/in/connorturner)
With an estimated value of close to “1 Billion dollars, LinkedIn”:http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/22/linkedin-announces-227-million-follow-on-round-from-sap-goldman-sachs-and-mcgraw-hill/
is a Social Networking Tool that appears to be establishing itself for the long run and a key Human Resources tool. So now is the time to set-up an account, link it to your web site, and get involved with your professional community.
Who knows where it will take you.
Categories: Fresh Ideas,Social Media,Web Design Trends
Glutastic.com
October 30, 2008
Working together with Caitlin Currie (a very close friend to the company), Armadillo Studios Inc. proudly launches “Glutastic.com – A new lifestyle site about living with Celiac Disease”:http://www.glutastic.com.
Utilizing the WordPress Content Management System, we handcrafted a template for Glutastic.com. With this site, Caitlin wanted to create a little enclave on the web to provide important information about Celiac Disease and the struggles of living a Gluten-free lifestyle to the 20-30 year age bracket. The catch was she wanted to bring the information with a lighthearted and positive outlook and provide more exposure to the disease in the Calgary region.
Utilizing Veer’s wonderful “Candy Script”:http://www.veer.com/products/typedetail.aspx?image=UMT0000254 and an assortment of vibrant colors we crafted an engaging and enjoyable layout. We designed this site to catch the eye while balancing the fine line between bright and intrusive.
In addition, to the engaging layout, we also included some helpful plug-ins to increase WordPress’ usability and to also increase the interaction with the site. We included an advanced Rich Text-Editor to allow for better control of the layout for the posts. We also incorporated social networking links, which allow readers to share their favorite Glutastic articles to their favorite social networking site.
So we encourage you to check in with “Glutastic.com”:http://www.glutastic.com and learn a little about the struggles and joys of life with a gluten allergy.
Categories: Armadillo Studios News,Calgary Client Releases,Calgary Web Design,Client Releases,WordPress
EmilNath.com
October 15, 2008
One of the first projects Armadillo Studios launched was for the Corporate Entertainment site “Empower Entertainment”:http://www.empowerentertainment.com. Almost two years later we are proud to launch our second project for Emil Nath.
With that we proud to release “EmilNath.com”:http://www.emilnath.com – The new home for Corporate Entertainer and illusionist Emil Nath.
This new corporate web site incorporates the floral design elements from the original Empower Entertainment web site, with personal headshot of Emil and Veer’s wonderful “DF Egret”:http://www.veer.com/products/typedetail.aspx?image=DET0000191&WT.ac=home.081001.1.txt_img.luxury font to create a enticing atmosphere.
Our goal with this design was to provide a minimalist web site, which would focus on Emil as a performer while also providing potential clients a glimpse into his unique performance. We feel the subtleties of the fonts and layouts combine to really showcase his professionalism and his unique performance.