With the release of WordPress® 3.0, the popular Blogging platform has taken another step toward becoming a full-fledged CMS (Content Management System) along the lines of Joomla® and Drupal®.

The first thing a user will notice about 3.0 is the new default theme. “Kubrick” has been replaced by “Twentyten.” Twentyten allows you to choose your own header image, and with the click of a mouse, you can determine whether a Page layout should be one or two columns. WordPress 3.0 also includes a greatly improved menu management system, so that a non-technical user can create customized menus on a Page-by-Page basis.

Version 3.0 has not changed the fact that WordPress allows you to choose from a wide array of plug-ins. Again, with a few clicks of a mouse, you can download and install a plug-in that will give you a contact form, manage comment spam, optimize your Pages for SEO, and even go so far as to provide you with an e-commerce solution.

The role of a website is changing. It is no longer the unique representation of a company or individual on the Internet. Today you can follow a company or individual on Twitter or and Facebook, connect on Linkedin, and post comments to a Blog.

For each Page you build in a WordPress website, you have to confront the questions–is this a Page or a Blog? Do I allow comments or not?  In a way, it provokes the question: what is now a Website vs. what is now a Blog? With modern tools available, a Website should no longer be just an online brochure. It should, similarly to the example cited above about the use and “conversational” aspects of Social Media platforms, encourage active dialogue with site users, including information seekers, consumers, those who are interested in what you have to say and what you show/demonstrate on your site, and more. Because WordPress started out as a Blogging platform, it is highly suited for this interactive world.

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A fascinating article appeared a few days ago on Mashable.com regarding the ongoing Content Curation debate. Defined in an article on Social Media Today titled “Manifesto for the Content Curator,” by Rohit Bhargrava, “A Content Curator is someone who continually finds, groups, organizes and shares the best and most relevant content on a specific issue online.”

We at Mitra Creative believe that conducting research on, aggregation, and posting of content on various Social Media channels to promote ideas, thought, education, and more, adds value and depth to a topic or issue. Our team has found it valuable to augment our/our clients’ self-published information, which may appear to be “self promotion” even when self-published material represents original thought, with additional, more “objective” content.

The Mashable.com article, by Steven Rosenbaum, states, ” ‘Curation comes up when search stops working,’ says author and NYU Professor Clay Shirky. But it’s more than a human-powered filter. ‘Curation comes up when people realize that it isn’t just about information seeking, it’s also about synchronizing a community.’ ” This is, in our opinion, one of the great examples of Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s Web 3.0 concept, where metadata is now blended in a large virtual repository and used to aggregate thought and even solve problems.

Read the article and see the video here.

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An article entitled, “Why Do Websites Cost So Much Money?“, by Christine Anderssen (Tailormade4you), which appeared on January 10, on GOARTICLES.com(1), very succinctly summarizes the reasons why reputable web design and development firms charge more for their work, even to their smaller business clients/emerging enterprises.

Anderssen makes clear, simple and effective statements about the value of using professional interactive agencies: “Frankly, building a website so that it works in all browsers, has a good design and presents all the information about the company in a pleasing, eye-catching and user-friendly fashion takes proficiency, and this costs money.” More importantly, she adds that when you utilize a good firm, you are “paying for the advice, the support and the long term relationship.” We at MITRA CREATIVE agree—-these are some of the key factors in deciding to engage an experienced agency. There is value added through working with professionals who can see your brand from an external perspective and can translate your business requirements, messages and calls-to-action into engaging, highly web-usable designs instead of “just” designing websites. It is equally critical to work with visionary design agencies that continue to innovate within their discipline, but that also know your business and its culture well enough, and stay with it long enough, to maintain the consistency of, and to grow, your brand.

Most critical is brand. Simply put, design firms that truly understand business in addition to art and technology elevate brands by giving them credibility and respect and by making the appearance of companies forward-thinking. They do so using today’s most impactful, powerful and pervasive medium: namely, visuals on the web. A picture is now worth a billion words… everywhere.

(Article Copyright © 2010 Jayde Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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All of us at Mitra Creative encourage you to donate to Hope for Haiti Now or the American Red Cross for the PEOPLE OF HAITI.

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As all of us at MITRA CREATIVE wish our families, friends, clients, colleagues and followers a very Happy, Prosperous New Year, we want to share with all of you a great article that we read on the popular and highly informative, “social, media, brand” information resource/Blog called Penn Olson. The article, by contributor Willis Wee, speaks of the “4 Reasons To Employ Social Media in 2010″:

READ THE ARTICLE HERE

We usually comment on what we read, but this article — containing a compelling, concise video called “Social Media ROI: Socialnomics” (from the insightful work and writings of Erik Qualman) — brilliantly summarizes the Business Social Media landscape and we feel it does not require further narrative.

We very much look forward in 2010 to providing valuable information, articles, information about Mitra Creative’s happenings on this Blog, and working with many of you to support your interactive/media design and development, marketing communications strategy, corporate digital video production and Web 2.0/3.0 and other needs!

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Yahoo! News published an article today that nicely summarizes the impact of collaborative digital communications platforms in the first decade of the 2000s.

The article’s author, Laura E. Davis, quotes Professor Paul Levinson of Fordham University who states in his book “New New Media”: “In particular, what makes these newer media so important is that it turns the consumers into producers.”

READ THE ARTICLE HERE.

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An informative article describing the impending Comcast-NBC deal appears today on Yahoo! TECH: READ THE ARTICLE HERE.

The article, from AP Business Writers, Deborah Yao and Ryan Nakashima, brings up the inevitable questions about whether or not it may be “questionable” for the “hard-wired” delivery service to own a network. According to Yao and Nakashima, Comcast’s direction may in fact change with this acquisition–that: “The future is in content, and the pipes that carry it matter less.” As the lines of propriety of content ownership continue to blur, and the matter of control over what we see, hear, consume, etc. over different media and where we get it expands every day, licensers, consumer groups, etc. are ready to engage in battle.

What this merger will undoubtedly make happen is another important visit to the issues of rights and permissions over content, of ownership and profit and of the unstoppable socialization of media. The debate and the incremental results are sure to continue for a long, long time.

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Mitra Creative has just produced a new website for Big Arrow Group, a New York-based full-service strategic consulting (branding, advertising and marketing) and communications firm.

SEE THE NEW BIG ARROW GROUP BY CLICKING HERE.

The new site is a refresh of Big Arrow Group’s interactive presence, reflecting an expansion of their brand and global capabilities. As with other recent Mitra Creative projects, in addition to introducing an uplifted design for Big Arrow, the site is supported by a custom-programmed/implemented content management system (CMS) and database framework. This CMS architecture will self-empower them to keep their offerings, case studies, media/multimedia and other information up-to-date.

Mitra Creative worked closely with Big Arrow Group’s leadership to ensure that the new website embraces their personalities and working style. It was important to reflect the genuine humanity of, and the spirit of collaboration in, the interaction between Big Arrow and their clients. Therefore, specific visual elements — such as Pantone colors reflecting the individuality of each member of the team — have been incorporated into the design to demonstrate Big Arrow’s true personal touch.

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Mitra Creative’s team feels blessed and humbled by our win of the illustrious 2009 MarCom PLATINUM Award for our complete redesign of the Lizalde Design/RickyLizalde.com website for leading Fashion Lingerie designer — and Project Runway® Season 4 contestant — Ricky Lizalde. The MarCom PLATINUM Award is the highest distinction in the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP) competition.

Our President, Karl Joseph Ufert, says: “Winning this award is a huge and truly unexpected honor for us. I attest our achievement to the insightful, masterful hand and eye of Mitra Creative’s Creative Director and Co-Founder, Vincent Wang, who designed the site, to our marvelous collaboration with Ricky Lizalde and to the gorgeous photos of Ricky’s collection (by San Diego-based photographer Alex Slattery) that Vincent used to create the site.”

*UPDATE: We’ve learned from the MarCom Awards Committee that there were 4,800 entries in the 2009 competition. Out of those entries, approximately 15% won Platinum Awards, and less than 2% of these for Web design/development projects.

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Mitra Creative is proud to announce our win of a 2009 MarCom GOLD Award for the website that we produced for Deep River Technologies.

Deep River Technologies is a leading, North Carolina Piedmont Triad metropolitan area-based (Greensboro, NC), MicrosoftMicrosoft®-Managed and Certified partner with specific expertise in providing comprehensive Microsoft® Dynamics® NAV solutions to small, medium and large businesses. Mitra Creative — in concert with our strategic alliance partner, The Nurture Institute — produced a vibrant new brand and website for Deep River Technologies (formerly SoftBytes LLC), which was singled out by the MarCom Awards committee.

The MarCom Awards, administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP), is, according to their website: “an international competition for marketing and communication professionals involved in the concept, writing and design of marketing and communication programs and print, visual and audio materials. Entries come from corporate marketing and communication departments, advertising agencies, PR firms, design shops, production companies and freelancers.”

This is Mitra Creative’s second GOLD MarCom Award–we achieved the same distinction in 2007 for our work on the now multi-award-winning website for Derive Technologies. Our President, Karl Joseph Ufert is thrilled with the win and thanks his entire team for their wonderful efforts on the design and development of the Deep River Technologies site. “Way to go, team”, says Karl!

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