The real questions are: if your website breaks, how expensive will repairs be, how long will it take to repair, and can you afford to lose business for a week or more while it is fixed?

Does my website really need maintenance?

If you have a shopping cart, online bookings, vital information and/or contact forms which bring you leads, then multiple offsite backups and monthly maintenance are vital. 

And even if you have a simple information website, then your business can still be affected.  Can you afford to lose business for a week or more while it is fixed? In this case, maybe offsite backups and quarterly maintenance might do the trick. 

Can I do website maintenance myself?

Updating PHP, WordPress core and plugins is not as simple as clicking an update button (oh, how we wish it was).  Each of these can conflict with each other. 

Other optimisation

Depending on your needs, we can also offer uptime monitoring, extensive backups, security and malware scans, premium caching and on-site optimisation to improve the speed of your site.

WordPress maintenance doesn’t guarantee that your site won’t have problems… but it does reduce the chance of problems and improve recovery speed.  Please contact us or call 3366 8166 to discuss your needs.

The post Does my WordPress site need regular maintenance? appeared first on Creative Passion.

The benefit of builders is that people with relatively little experience can create pages, and modify the layout of a page or add features like a map or a photo carousel or video.  Watch the video below to learn the trade-offs of WordPress builders, and the benefits of custom-built sites.

We create both types of WordPress sites for clients. Please contact us or call 3366 8166 if you’d like to discuss your needs.

Disclosure: The example shown in the enclosed video demonstrates one page of the site only.  The pages compared are hosted on the same server, they use the same cache plugin and the images have not been optimised on the custom-built site.  So the page speed improvement between the two pages is solely created by the HTML, PHP and CSS generated by our developer and by removing some plugins. 

The post The difference between WordPress builders and custom builds appeared first on Creative Passion.

The origin of the APCS logo

Excerpt as published on apcsummit.org the website in 1999.

The Asia Pacific Cities Summit logo was created to capture the vision of cities with the courage to discuss, collaborate and plan the way forward for the people of Asia and the Pacific.

The logo represents the meeting of the cities and the culture joined by a common element – the peaceful wave of the Pacific Ocean.

The logo symbolises the importance of the cities which will participate in the APCS and unifies their goals of future growth, community development and prosperity.

Mr Robert Geddes, Managing Director of PROdesign, and his innovative design team, created the logo.

The post Asia Pacific Cities Summit logo appeared first on Creative Passion.

We agree the new editor interface will improve WordPress productivity (once you’re used to it), but for now we’re encouraging clients NOT to update, because:

• Security patches are likely.
• Not all themes and plugins are Gutenberg-compatible (yet).

What does this mean for my existing site?

The classic editor will be supported until 2022. Creative Passion will continue to support existing websites which we created/maintain via the current editor interface. And over time, we’ll engage clients on a case-by-case basis to make each site’s transition as manageable as possible. We expect each client’s site will have unique needs, challenges, timelines and solutions. Handling the transition like this should provide a smooth experience.

Please ignore Gutenberg upgrade notification emails and on-screen requests for now. Please contact us if you have concerns.

The post Do I need the new WordPress v5.0 Gutenberg editor? appeared first on Creative Passion.

If you’re in weight loss, pharmacy or children’s health areas, then contact us to audit your packaging and advertising urgently, because there are penalties.

• Is my product therapeutic?
• Therapeutic goods advertising information

The post New non-prescription therapeutic goods advertising code appeared first on Creative Passion.

• conveys the information or message succinctly and professionally;
• the target audience relates to;
• encourages the reader to take action (eg converts prospects to customers and convinces them to do something);
• helps to get (and retain) the reader’s attention;
• fits the physical space available;
• has the right tone of voice;
• is broken into logical sections and which flows;
• has no spelling or grammatical errors;
• has minimal jargon which the target audience doesn’t understand.

No matter if you’re writing an advert, technical specifications for a product, point-of-sale text for packaging, promotional text for a brochure or website text,

There’s no doubt that some clients have the gift of writing text has the right tone of voice, is targeted to the target audience

Proofreading

Finding a typo or grammatical error after a project is printed and distributed (including electronic distribution) is every businessperson’s nightmare.  But there are some simple solutions. 

Depending on your resources, you can ask staff, colleagues, managers, directors, friends and family to proofread your material.  But sometimes they’ll miss things, and you may find it embarrassing if you don’t implement all their suggestions.  A relatively cost-conscious option is to engage a professional proofreader.

Something else you might not have considered, is proofreading in situ.  That is, reading the text once the designer has placed it on the page(s).  Sometimes the font, letter kerning, spacing might affect the way copy reads, even just breaking two words

Editing

It can be hard to see the forest for the trees, especially when you know so much about a topic. 

Copywriting

You might not have the time or the skill to craft clever wording for your material. 

Design

Even if your text is well-written, errors in layout or logic can happen.  Professional designers will always try to avoid:

Prioritising readability

There’s no point designing creative and attention-grabbing designs if the end result isn’t functional for the reader.  The layout of headings, subheadings, text, captions, photos, infographics and graphical elements are vital to the effectiveness of print and onscreen material.  This includes the choice of fonts, character spacing, letter spacing, paragraph spacing and even the layout. 

The post Do I need a proofreader, editor or copywriter? appeared first on Creative Passion.

A few years ago Google announced that websites which use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption (https rather than http) will rank higher in their search algorithms. So for many of our clients, the choice to pay for a security certificate is a no-brainer. But note that SSL is only one signal in Google’s algorithm – it won’t replace the need for websites to have quality content.

Basically https makes life harder for hackers because it scrambles data, which is especially good if public wireless networks are being used (where unencrypted information can be seen).

Keep your website secure

If you have a shopping cart or forum, then you have important information to keep secure. Credit card numbers, passwords, expiry dates, addresses and other private information of your customers and prospective customers are imperative to encrypt.

But if you have a basic website and you don’t rely on Google searches to send you business, then you might think SSL isn’t important. But how about when your client (or prospective client) inputs their information into a contact form on your website. Do you want hackers to receive or tamper with this information?

Keep your own data secure

Do you want hackers to learn information about you or collect your data?

Next time you’re doing a search on the Internet, think about whether you want someone else seeing your searches, search suggestions and search results.

Even typing your details into a contact form… check that the site is https. It’s not an absolute guarantee (because security certificates can be flawed) but it’s a darnside better than nothing.

The post Should my website be https (SSL)? appeared first on Creative Passion.

The logo still represents the freedom of owning your own home, the way that Park First make the process easy for their customers, and the way an independent mortgage broker frees you from the stranglehold of the big banks.

We decided that the existing brand equity was strong.  So we refreshed the colours, modernised font and adjusted the scale of the elements, and this leveraged the brilliance of the original design.

Need your logo updated?  Give Creative Passion^® a call on 3366 8166.  We’d love to help refresh your brand too.

The post Park First logo update appeared first on Creative Passion.

The term “trampoline” is now a generic term which anyone can use.

Make sure you keep using it

Simply registering a trademark isn’t enough. At any stage a third party (and that means anyone) can apply to have your trademark deregistered on the grounds of non-use.

And simply using it (for instance if it’s your logo or brand name) isn’t enough either. If someone applies for your trademark to be removed on the grounds of non-use, then you need to be able to provide sufficient evidence of usage. So it’s good practice as part of your every day duties, to keep copies of details such as advertisements, photos of signage or packaging, invoices and other documentation.

Learn more about non-use in this explanation about trademark non-use provided by IP Australia.

Avoid genericisation

Over the years, some well-known companies have either not protected their property or have lost trademark protection. Classic ones include Aspirin, Escalator, Kerosene and Thermos.

You need to ensure that your trademark is considered as a trademark, and not made generic by a court. Make sure you contact a trademark attorney if you want to know how to defend against this*.

Here’s a great article with examples of trademarks lost by genericisation.

Abandoned or improper trademarks

Obviously if you neglect to renew or decide not to renew a trademark, then others can use it.

Probably the most famous is “App Store”, which was originally registered by Apple. They abandoned trademark after a court battle with Amazon.

Keep your details up to date

Make sure your contact details are always kept up to date (you can easily check by searching for your trademarks on the ATMOSS register).

• If someone
  attempts to register a trademark which is similar to yours, it’s possible you might be contacted by IP Australia. If you don’t reply, you might lose the opportunity to defend your trademark.
• If your details aren’t correct you will miss receiving renewal reminders every 10 years.
• If someone lodges court action against your trademark, and your contact details aren’t correct, you might lose the opportunity to protect your trademark.

Make sure noone else is using your trademark

If you own a trademark, then you can decide who uses it.

• If you notice someone using it (or something similar) without your permission, then seek legal advice* immediately.
• You can search the IP Australia’s ATMOSS register. It’s difficult to do this regularly, and you might miss something. So it’s best if you utilise a trademark attorney* to actively monitor it for you.
• There are free online services such as Google Alerts which can keep an eye on use of words/phrases. Obviously this doesn’t monitor trademarks which include visual appearance (so it’s not a catch-all). There are also official online trademark monitoring services.
• Keep an eye on your competitors’ printed and online material.

Use the ® registered trademark symbol

One of the best ways to publicly display your rights is to use the ® (registered trademark) symbol wherever you use it. It’s not compulsory, but it’s good practice. Here’s more information about the difference between the (trademark) and ® (registered trademark) symbols.

* If you think your trademark isn’t protected or is in danger of being lost, give us a call and we’ll recommend a local trademark attorney we know and trust.

The post Don’t lose your trademark appeared first on Creative Passion.

Most people take it for granted, but the selection of fonts is something professional designers take seriously. Font mistakes can have catastrophic backlash.

Fancy having to recall, reprint, repackage & resupply your products?

Professional typography

By the same token, the alignment and layout of text can have the same effect. It can increase appeal, help to get your message across, and help your brand to stand-out in a crowded marketplace. But wait, there’s more. It can increase legibility, increase comprehension and reinforce your brand awareness.

How long does it take to recall, remove and replace signage on a fleet of vehicles?

Why use a professional designer?

The choice of font, the positioning of text and even just one questionably-placed character can confuse or delay purchase.

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