Happy Holidays from the creative crew at Your Plan B Company!

Our favorite things about Thanksgiving...

JameyB: "It is my mother's favorite holiday, so she goes all out with a beautiful table, lots of people over and delicious food. I try my hardest to never miss the holiday at her house. My favorite food is pumpkin pie with whipped cream on top. I steal tiny slices all day so it doesn't look like an entire piece is missing all at once! Don't tell her or else she won't leave the pies out!!"

Cat: "Thanksgiving has always been a wonderful time to spend with my family and I treasure every year as I watch the family grow. Some of my favorite memories of Thanksgiving at my house are inviting friends from other parts of the world to partake in the tradition. It is fun to be able to share our culture with others in a warm and inviting way. Besides, who doesn't love bringing out jellied cranberries wiggling away on a lovely serving dish to see faces of astonishment? I know I do!"

DavidB: "I always love the colours this time of year. From the yellow leaves on the ground that swirl in the wind to soft lighting to overcast skies, this can be a good time to take fantastic photos! When I was young, I spent Thanksgivings in San Antonio, they just don't have the same fall colours - but Gradmother DID make an amazing Guacamole - not your traditional Thanksgiving food but, hey, it's Texas."

Some cool holiday sites:
marthastewart.com
history.com
thelocaltourist.com
familyfun.go.com
family.go.com
spatulatta.com
imdb.com (a quick youtube of the show: youtube.com)

Happy Holidays from the creative crew at Your Plan B Company!

NEW! Blog for MEEA!

MEEA Unplugged



Another great project with the folks at Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance!
We helped them set up a Word Press blog template and designed the logo.

Blogs are a great way to get your entire organization working online. You can each be the editor. And now with all the cool plug ins you can have Twitter feeds, RSS, video etc all in one place for your audience to find out more about you!

If you want to begin blogging or refresh yours with custom graphics, give us a call!

social networks and marketing part two

Following up on social networks, we thought these links might be helpful to you as you market online.

online resources:
• Oneforty – A list of all third-party applications
• Tweetdeck – Third-party application to manage Twitter accounts
• Search.Twitter.com – Twitter search
• Twellow – Identify people to follow based off of details in their Twitter bio
• WeFollow – Identify people to follow based off of how they classify themselves
• Tweetphoto – Photo sharing service
• WTHashtag – Top resource for tracking hashtag mentions
• Twitalyzer – Most sophisticated Twitter analytics tool
• Listorious – Aggregator of Twitter lists
• Flowtown – Import current email addresses, locate social networks
• Flavors.me – Aggregate online profiles in one place
• Help a Reporter Out – Media opportunities
• Pitchengine – Social media release and newsroom
• Knowem – Find where your name is available and secure it
• Alexa – Find details about your Web site and audience
• Bit.ly – URL shortener
• J.mp – A shorter version of bit.ly (they are one and the same…simply a shorter version of its predecessor)
• Google Reader – RSS aggregator
• Google Alerts – Aggregates online mentions
• Addict-o-matic – Digital dashboard
• Blog Pulse – Supplement to Google Alerts to find mentions in blog posts
• Quarkbase – Overview of monthly web visits and other analytics
• Board Tracker – Find brand mentions on online forums and discussion boards
• Pitchengine – Social media release platform
• HelpAReporter – Free media opportunity network
• SocialMention – Analytics and sentiment
• Twellohood – Find people tweeting by location
• Constant Contact – Email campaign platform

To discuss your online marketing through social networks, contact jameyb@yourplanb.com

social networks and marketing part one

Curious about all those icons popping up on sites?
Like YouTube, Twitter, Blog, Linked in etc. Well those are links to social networks the site participates in.

What are social networks?
Channels for interacting, using accessible publishing techniques. Social media use web-based technologies to transform and broadcast media monologues allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.” -Wikipedia

Did you know?
51% Get News From 'People They Follow’
79% of the 100 largest Fortune 500 use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or blogs to communicate with customers, with Twitter as the platform of choice.
(Credit: Burson-Marsteller Fortune Global 100 Social Media Study)
Rule of thumb: It takes, on average, five activities to draw an audience to your site.

Have you established your social media policy?
(Or integrate with existing communications policy.)
Consider:
• Identify who can say what, when and where
• Know when you will/will not respond
• Crisis communications
• Sustainability
• Exit strategy
• Do employees need training?
• Examples of appropriate social media use versus abusing time online

If you need assistance with your corporate social networks and marketing, please contact jameyb@yourplanb.com

Happy Halloween!

Halloween online!



One of our favorite holidays and there are so many spooky sites to enjoy!
Here's 13 to get you started!

gothtober.com
halloweenarcade.com
benjerry.com/fun/halloween
stoneykins.com
familyfun.go.com/halloween
funhalloweendecorations.com
kraftrecipes.com
marthastewart.com/photogallery/pumpkins
countdowntohalloween.com
pumpkincult.com
spookyinc.com
history.com/topics/halloween
jackolanterns.net/traditions.htm

HAPPY HALLOWEEN from Your Plan B Company!

Save the Date! Celebration is coming soon!

The 21st Anniversary of Over the Rainbow Association is coming!

Sunday, December 21, 2010
4pm at Northwestern University's Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, Evanston, IL.

An unforgettable evening featuring these outstanding artists:
- The beautiful soprano Nancy Gustafson, the heart and soul of Celebration for 21 years
- The popular and ever-versatile tenor Richard Leech
- The world's sweetheart and multi-dimensional Sylvia McNair
- Direct from the original cast of teh Broadway sensation, Wicked, Michael Davies

You can order tickets online!
Or call Tara Moran at 847-424-5604

DavidB and I have gone to this event over and over and LOVE it! The audience, the performers, the reason we are all there! It is just a great night and you will leave singing :)

We have enjoyed working with Over the Rainbow Association since 1995.

A day in the life - catherine larson, lead designer at yourplanb.com

A day in the life of a Cat.

Hello! I'm Cat and as much as I may wish to spend my days lazily sleeping in the sun, as Lead Designer at Your Plan B, my day is met with a bit more activity than just any ordinary cat.



If I had to pick just one word to describe what I do, it would be: interpret. As Lead designer you would think most of the day I am designing away, but a title is just that, a title. In reality one's job encompasses much more than what one title can hold. The following details a day in the life of me, Cat. (Hey that's me!)

After my commute via bicycle, the first thing I do is to make sure nothing is on fire! No no, not real fire - I save that for our local firefighters. I mean anything that deserves immediate attention and must be dealt with directly. Once this has been met with swift action only then may the day's originally scheduled programming begin.

So what is in the morning's originally scheduled programming?

Meetings. Our office is designed in such a way that when working on joint projects we can turn quickly to one another to brainstorm, ask questions, etc.

Site Maintenance. With over 13 years of working on websites, we have quite a few sites to maintain, which we do with great aplomb.

Research. Every client is different, and this means constantly learning new ways to achieve their desired goals. Part of the day is always spent researching new technologies, reading reviews, and testing them out on our own sites.

Backing up. Depending on the size of the website, this can take five minutes to hours. And this MUST be done before making changes to the website. This is so that there is always a backup of what was previously on the web before any changes were made to it. This may seem like a step that could be skipped, but having that backup is crucial to maintaining a website.

The afternoon is usually when the actual coding occurs at my desk. By now I have compiled the list of tasks, the sites have been backed up, and I am ready to make any edits, or build out any newly designed sites. These do not necessarily happen everyday but they are part of my regular tasks. So much of working in this digital age requires back and forth communication before ever getting to the virtual drawing board. Once I am certain I understand what the client has requested, work begins based on the notes from the previous meetings.

Site Development. This is when the actual coding happens.

Browser Testing. These are enough to give anyone a headache out there. But having options is an incredibly good thing. As web designers we must design for the majority, but make sure that the sites we create will function on other browsers as well.

The day continues in this vein, until it wraps itself up in preparation to begin the next. Because each project is different, I am always learning something new, be it the latin names of plants, or the proper way to make a vegan raw drink. It keeps me on my toes, and definitely not napping on the favorite chair in the sunlight like your cat or dog may be doing right now.