Having apologised in my last post about lack of updates recently I come back again with my tail between my legs. Coming up for the last couple of weeks in my honours year semester at university now and just in the middle of wrapping up some large projects which is all peachy as I’m hoping I’ll get some time at the Christmas holidays and not need to be stuck to the box. Everything is going great though. Ages ago I had posted about doing SEO for a local Glasgow company and it really is time to blow my trumpet. On my first meeting they were failing to show up anywhere near the first page on Google, not even close. However after roughly six months on they are now 1st^, 2^nd or 3^rd for their main key phrases in organic results. Phrases such as “self storage Glasgow”, “Glasgow storage”, “Storage units Glasgow” and “Storage space Glasgow” as well as many other phrases has seen their average monthly hits tripled from below 200 to over 600.  I’m Pretty chuffed. The Glasgow storage company is http://www.aabsoluteselfstorage.co.uk.

I’ve sadly ignored updating my blog and my Facebook site page over the last month as I have really been nailed down (not even tied, but nailed). Apart from about 4 smaller websites/portfolios and larger NDA flash stuff, I’ve also began my Honours year at university.  After achieving my Bachelors with distinction I decided I’d stay on and see if I can get top grades again. In my honours I have to show what I am capable of with a yearlong project, which is why I’m making http://beakw.com/. I’m hoping to progress fast through it but with the amount I have on just now it’s only getting allocated the time it requires, not the bells and whistle time I’d want.  So once I’m over this current hurdle of work I might take a couple of weeks off from it all to focus on getting those top grades.

Just a couple of days ago I launched a Facebook page for Beakable.com seen here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Glasgow-United-Kingdom/Beakable-Web-Design/144184688922. This will be used for tracking of current and finished web design work as well as linking back to any articles that Beakable may feature in from now on. Hopefully viewers will join and give both positive and negative feedback on my work and comment on the progress of Beakable.com.

After the large influx of sudden visitors from smashingmagazine.com there was an increase in the amount of people viewing and clicking the Submit button on my contact page. I guess it was a case of seeing a button and clicking it to be enthralled by what was to proceed.
Sadly and I’m sure to many people’s displeasure nothing would occur, well when I say nothing, I mean the clicker would gaze upon nothing and my inbox would receive another blank or quickly filled in email.

But now, behold, I give you a button. A button which will most definitely perform and hold up to high expectations. A button that won’t only send me an email, but will give the clicker the much desired button clicking delight they seek.
Feel free to test it out, input is now required in the contact form before you’re able to click send but if you dont have anything to say feel free to fill it with garbage.

I was over the moon recently to find that Beakable.com had been linked to from SmashinzMagazine.com (http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/30/50-fresh-portfolio-websites-for-your-inspiration/).
Under a post titled “50 Fresh Portfolio Websites for Your Inspiration” my site was amongst some amazing pieces of work that I would never have thought I’d be placed next to. The site refers to Beakable as “Iain Hamilton’s portfolio is interesting and unconventional. Maybe funny characters in the header make up the core feature that singles out this design.”
This really did make my day.

I wasn’t too sure about the changes from the frog and Jason rabbit to the snail and salt shaker, and when I do get some time I will be thinking of some new characters. However I definitely won’t be changing my header away from my cartoon styled drawings now.
It’s also worth giving a mention just now to Dustin Morris (http://www.dewtone.com) and Christine Mackey (http://www.studiom-productions.com) who both provided me with work over the last year which without a doubt took my level of design from nothing to actually being reasonably presentable now. Both of them persisted from space increases of one or two pixels to colour shade changes that over the last year greatly improved my eye for detail and positioning as well. It will be interesting to see how I improve over the next coming year.