The Office Maven is now Maven Mauve
I’m rebranding and will be slowly winding up The Office Maven name. Check out https://mavenmauve.au or click the button below.
New business; focusing specifically on website builds plus maintenance.
Featuring inspiration to help you get started;
tips and tricks to elevate your content and site;
security topics to keep you informed;
allowing you to get the best out of your
content, social media and website.
Featuring inspiration to help you get started; tips and tricks to elevate your content and site; security topics to keep you informed; allowing you to get the best out of your
content, social media and website.
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Low, High or Stock Images!
One of the regular discussions I have with clients is in relation to the images they want to use on their site. This is an area I have a few definitive opinions on, and so, I decided to cover them below. Personal photos trump stock photos except when low quality I...
A Burst of Colour
A few weeks ago, I talked about why negative space is so important while designing your website. Today’s topic is looking at how to utilise the white space, how to help it match branding without filling it with content. This week, I’m talking about Colour Blocking and...
Book Review: The Universe Has Your Back by Gabrielle Bernstein
For the month of February, I was reading the book Everybody Writes! by Ann Handley. Wait... what? I thought this review was for The Universe not Writes. Yep, it is. I had all intentions of reviewing Everybody Writes! until I went through a stressful period where I...
February Blog Round Up
The following blog post is a list of blogs I read during February that I found worthwhile of sharing with others. They cover a range of topics which relate to websites, marketing, social media and other topics. Like A Boss: How To Be Consistently Productive For Huge...
What do you mean, that costs extra?
I’ve had this question asked to me several times and I get why it can be frustrating for a client to be expecting to pay one amount for a site and then to have things added to the cost. However, as a designer/developer this is something that is essential for me to ask...
4 Tips for Meeting Website Send Live Deadlines
You’ve got a website in the works and you have a deadline in mind. These tips are there to help you ensure that your deadline is not missed, based on my experiences with clients. Content I’ve mentioned in my blogs before about having content ready to go before getting...
June Blog Round Up
The following blog post is a list of blogs I read during June that I found worthwhile of sharing with others. They cover a range of topics which relate to websites, marketing, social media and other topics. 4 Simple Ways To Develop A Strong Brand Voice On Instagram...
3 of the Best WordPress Themes For Marketing
With me focusing on web design a lot recently, I've been trialling a number of themes that can be used in WordPress. I never thought I would be a loud advocate for WordPress previously, but I can understand the trend in people having sites built within. The theme...
Security for your site
When I used to work in internet security, I loathed WordPress, Joomla and a few other platforms because they were the websites that were always being hacked. It surprised me though when I started really developing my own sites how much I loved WordPress because it was...
Why Negative Space Is Important
Negative space, often referred to as white space, has as much importance in designing a website as the positive space (elements on your website) does. Shouldn’t I Put As Much On My Site As Possible? Definitely not! There is a balance you need to achieve between having...
Reasons I Use Mood Boards For Inspiration
One of the biggest challenges I have when working with new website clients is working out with them what the colour scheme (if they don’t already have a logo to draw inspiration from) and layout should look like. Everyone knows what they like on a website when they...
Why a Clear Vision is the Ultimate Resource When Designing a Site
I know that this is a common question asked to potential clients who are looking for a site to be built: do you have any examples of things you like on a website? Often, it’s followed up with a request for examples of websites you like, with notations on why you like...
Keeping Relevant By Keeping Up To Date
It's easy to talk about things that have happened. It's easy to talk about something you've talked about before... But rehashing the same things over and over won't keep people interested. You need to add some variety. This is something even I catch myself doing at...
Quick guide to coming up with topics
Moving into choosing topics, what are some useful things that can help you get started?
Content Issues
Have you ever gone to write a blog post and sat there staring at the screen? You write a sentence and then deleted it because you couldn't think of where to go with it? I have to admit, I get that way too. Yet, it's not all bad. Here's some of my other tips for...
Important for Content Creation
I'm focusing on two areas, the first one briefly, the second one in depth to do with content creation.
Notebooks are Important
I’m going to start this blog with a note of importance: whether you use a physical notebook or electronic, find whatever method works for you. Using both physical and electronic notebooks works for me well but might not for you. I’ve been writing content on my own...
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Taking Some Action is Good, Taking Regular Action is Better
Become known as a source of good content, build your brand by taking action. By only posting ocassionally, you not only have to win over new people, but those who have lost interest. And those are harder to win back. If you're struggling for ideas for what to talk...
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Passwords
Passwords can be the bane of everyone’s work and home lives. Nearly every system requires a password, has their own rules about what can be used as a password and then there is the recommendations about not using the same one for multiple things! How are you ever...
Where Do I Start?
Take a deep breath! Relax. You've decided to create videos, that's great. But you're not sure how to? Don't panic. That's something I can help fix. Step by step I'm looking at covering all types of concerns and difficulties that you might come across in your venture....
Keeping it short
TRANSCRIPT Coming soon
Using Music in Your Videos… the possible risks!
TRANSCRIPT Coming soon
Using Props in Video
TRANSCRIPT Coming soon
Passwords
Passwords can be the bane of everyone’s work and home lives. Nearly every system requires a password, has their own rules about what can be used as a password and then there is the recommendations about not using the same one for multiple things! How are you ever...
Build A Video Habit
What's a good way to build a habit for something you don't feel comfortable doing? Basically, do it a lot!
Alternatives to Blogging
Want to blog but feel you don’t have time? Struggling to write the ideas and thoughts in your mind? Want someone else to write your blogs for you, yet they don’t quite match your concepts or voice? We all struggle at times to be consistent with putting content on our...
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Book Review: The Universe Has Your Back by Gabrielle Bernstein
For the month of February, I was reading the book Everybody Writes! by Ann Handley. Wait... what? I thought this review was for The Universe not Writes. Yep, it is. I had all intentions of reviewing Everybody Writes! until I went through a stressful period where I...
February Blog Round Up
The following blog post is a list of blogs I read during February that I found worthwhile of sharing with others. They cover a range of topics which relate to websites, marketing, social media and other topics. Like A Boss: How To Be Consistently Productive For Huge...
May Blog Round Up
The following blog post is a list of blogs I read during May that I found worthwhile of sharing with others. They cover a range of topics which relate to websites, marketing, social media and other topics. The No-Trick New Blogger Strategy for Content Creation...