How Graphic Design Impacts Internet Marketing

When most people think about graphic design, they think about advertisements and business logos. They don't always jump to the thought of web design. A lot of graphic designers find work in web design, and their work has a big impact on the way that internet marketers go about their jobs. An internet marketer is a person in charge of promoting a website, and that line of work may seem like it has nothing to do with graphic design. The two fields are more connected than you think. Here is a look at how graphic design impacts search engine optimization so you can see the sheer significance of this multimedia career.

User Experience

The way users move about the site impacts how long they stay in a site. If it is not designed for convenient use, people are going to move onto other websites that they can easily move through. Internet marketers have to develop their web content so that it uses the design in the best way possible. They have to reference menu bars and buttons that graphic designers put in place on a page. Every color and image that a designer puts on a page impacts the way users experience the function of the site, more so than you may think.

Loading Times

Have you ever left a site just because it took forever for all of the graphics to show up? Of course you have. We all have. A good graphic designer knows how to balance great images with quick loading times so that users can see what they need right from the start. Sites with slow image loading times actually get bumped down on Google and other search engines, which is something that most people don't realize. This has a huge impact on the internet marketing for a site. Designers must employ a process called photo optimization in order to get a site to load as quickly and effectively as possible. Otherwise internet marketers have no hope of keeping people on a site.

Image Development

The work that a graphic designer does on a website sets the tone for the business as a whole. It creates an image that people associate with the site, and that image is something that internet marketers have to work around. If the site is designed to look like a fun place to be, internet marketers have to reach out to fun-loving audiences. If they market to FBI agents who are looking for a serious, professional business, they are never going to draw in the right audience. Internet marketers and graphic designers have to work together as a team to establish the image for a business. This is harder to do than most people think.

Conclusion

You may not have noticed the impact that graphic design has on internet marketing, but it influences everything that surrounds it. Web writers have to work around it. Marketers have to work around it. Customer service reps have to work around it. Everyone has to work around whatever the designer puts on the page. If you want to be a graphic designer in the future, you have to be ready to take on all of that responsibility. It is not something that everyone can handle. With the right motivation though, you should have no trouble getting through this career by making a positive influence on the marketers you work with.

Do Animators Make Good Salaries?

Animators are responsible for creating some of the most popular sources of entertainment out there. They can work on anything from political cartoons to nationwide ads, depending on what kind of projects they like to do. If you have been thinking about working in this multimedia career, you may want to learn about the different salary ranges you can expect in your profession. A little research may help you determine whether this is the occupation for you. Here are some common animator salary ranges that you can use to approximate your future earnings.

Salary by Years of Experience

• Less than 1 year: $28,906 - $61,277 per year
• 1-4 years: $25,182 - $76,875 per year
• 5-9 years: $33,935 - $84,729 per year
• 10-19 years: $40,991 - $120,000 per year

Salary by Industry

• 3D Animation: $23,270 - $92,738 per year
• Entertainment or Game Software: $25,532 - $79,118 per year
• Entertainment Production: $17,879 - $71,482 per year
• Film Visual Effects: $30,000 - $105,450 per year
• Marketing, Advertising & Media Management: $35,493 - $57,391 per year
• Movies and Theaters: $32,215 - $84,430 per year
• Toys/Games: $30,201 - $71,517 per year

Salary by Company Size

• 1-9: $14,497 - $69,531 per year
• 10-49: $25,245 - $63,992 per year
• 50-199: $20,134 - $81,166 per year
• 200-599: $33,000 - $180,000 per year
• 600-1999: $34,963 - $84,430 per year
• 5000-19999: $32,000 - $53,383 per year

Salary by Benefits

• 401(k): $33,445 - $86,088 per year
• Paid Holidays or Vacations: $30,468 - $83,423 per year
• Paid Sick Leave: $25,434 - $85,001 per year
• Life Insurance and Disability: $33,677 - $77,684 per year
• Casual Atmosphere: $24,613 - $91,916 per year
• Free Drinks: $33,633 - $92,738 per year
• Fitness Club Membership: $30,251 - $116,397 per year

Salary by Gender

• Male: $36,433 - $60,428 per year
• Female: $22,976 - $49,695 per year

Salary by Specialty

• Autodesk Maya: $45,000 - $63,200 per year
• Flash: $52,381 - $90,000 per year
• Adobe Photoshop: $36,000 - $53,200 per year

Salary by Location

• California: $30,367 - $107,853 per year
• Florida: $24,000 - $62,500 per year
• Illinois: $35,000 - $65,000 per year
• Massachusetts: $32,525 - $54,045 per year
• New York: $19,574 - $82,739 per year
• Texas: $30,639 - $69,492 per year
• Washington: $40,058 - $68,748 per year

Salary by the Hour

• Less than 1 year: $12.77 - $20.56 per hour
• 1-4 years: $9.70 - $38.92 per hour
• 5-9 years: $11.63 - $49.66 per hour
• 10-19 years: $38.71 - $66.13 per hour

For the most part, animators do make pretty good money in their work. There are some that make more than others, but you have to expect that with every career. If you are good at your job and you have a passion for what you do, you should be able to make a pretty decent living as an animator. All it takes is a little effort and a high demand for your career.

Note that the information above is courtesy of PayScale.com as of January 27, 2012. It may not reflect the information at the time you read this article.

How Much Money Do Web Developers Make?

I have been researching a lot of salary statistics lately, so pretty much all of my blogs have information about salaries in one way or another. While I'm on a role, I figured I might as well compile some information about web developer salary ranges. Web developers, as a whole, make a lot of money, but much of their earnings is based on their abilities in their line of work. The average web developer salary is comparable to the average software developer salary, but there are some notable differences to keep in mind. Let's take a look at the numbers to see what you could make in this profession.

Salary by Years of Experience

• Less than 1 year: $28,789 - $57,162 per year per year
• 1-4 years: $30,318 - $66,781 per year
• 5-9 years: $39,160 - $80,512 per year
• 10-19 years: $42,388 - $85,613 per year
• 20 years or more: $44,230 - $97,436 per year

Salary by State

• Washington: $30,283 - $74,007 per year
• Virginia: $36,285 - $81,316 per year
• Texas: $29,766 - $72,432 per year
• Pennsylvania: $32,058 - $72,778 per year
• New York: $34,305 - $78,907 per year
• Illinois: $32,628 - $67,695 per year
• California: $39,949 - $83,687 per year

Salary by Company Size

• 1-9: $23,812 - $61,310 per year
• 10-49: $30,753 - $69,167 per year
• 50-199: $32,973 - $71,493 per year
• 200-599: $36,357 - $76,614 per year
• 600-1999: $42,402 - $77,598 per year
• 2000-4999: $38,697 - $77,167 per year
• 5000-19999: $43,887 - $88,001 per year
• 20000-49999: $37,814 - $77,735 per year
• 50000+ $37,095 - $85,775 per year

Salary by Certification

• Sun Certified Java Programmer: $27,000 - $88,750 per year
• Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: $54,045 - $66,129 per year
• Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer: $20,608 - $70,234 per year
• Microsoft Certified Solution Developer: $40,000 - $65,000 per year
• Microsoft Certified Professional: $30,067 - $78,597 per year
• Microsoft Certified Professional + Internet: $33,000 - $58,983 per year
• Macromedia ColdFusion Advancd Certification: $44,219 - $76,302 per year
• CompTIA Security+: $48,605 - $66,129 per year
• Comptia A+ Service Technician: $44,219 - $64,094 per year
• Cisco Certified Network Associate: $15,467 - $69,043 per year

Salary by Specialty

• Web Development: $32,269 - $74,713 per year
• SQL: $31,562 - $75,972 per year
• Microsoft SQL Server: $31,582 - $73,009 per year
• Microsoft Active Server Pages: $34,425 - $76,247 per year
• Linux: $30,780 - $75,352 per year
• JavaScript: $32,223 - $74,035 per year
• Java: $34,021 - $80,149 per year
• Internet Information Server: $34,620 - $75,496 per year
• HTML: $31,547 - $72,580 per year
• e-Commerce: $30,060 - $76,403 per year

Salary by Employer Type

• University: $33,557 - $60,503 per year
• State and Local Government: $37,095 - $77,488 per year
• Self-Employed: $18,383 - $90,042 per year
• School District: $28,060 - $63,376 per year
• Private Practice/Firm: $30,773 - $70,587 per year
• Non-Profit Organization: $30,000 - $76,906 per year
• Hospital: $54,260 - $76,500 per year
• Federal Government: $30,913 - $96,958 per year
• Contract: $32,215 - $79,490 per year
• Company: $32,272 - $74,835 per year

Salary by Industry

• Web Development: $29,452 - $70,932 per year
• Software Applications: $30,051 - $80,000 per year
• Marketing and Media Management: $33,039 - $65,683 per year
• Internet and New Media: $32,985 - $79,164 per year
• E-Commerce: $28,033 - $80,156 per year
• College/University: $32,200 - $59,481 per year
• Advertising Agency: $32,059 - $69,658 per year

The numbers above show that you can make a lot of money as a web developer, no matter what your situation may be. The key to doing that though is to have a good education backing your career. If you can go to school to get the design and IT degree that you need for this profession, you can easily make enough money to support your family. Who knows, you might even end up working for Google or some other huge site like that. You just have to make an effort to find a good job that you love, and you will be able to reap all the rewards that web development has to offer.

Free Photo Editors You Can Use

If you don't have a ton of disposable income at the moment, you may feel that you can't get the photo editors you need to work in a multimedia career. There will of course come a time when you have to invest in expensive editing software, but that time doesn't have to be now. There are tons of free photo editors out there that you can use to get started in your career. These may not be the most effective options in the world, but they don't cost any money to use. You can't complain about that, right? Enough of my jibber jabber though. Let's take a look at the list, shall we?

Paint

Most people hate on Paint because they think it is too simplistic, but it has come a long way over the years. Paint is a program that is available on most Windows computers, and it can be used to add text, crop pictures, color simple images, and do other things you might need on a very simple level. I have used paint on a lot of my photo projects, just because it is easier to navigate through than other programs. Don't assume that this program is going to be total crap. You might be surprised by what you find if you give it a chance.

Microsoft Word

MS Word may not be a photo editor per se, but it can edit photos in some ways. If you paste an image into a document on Microsoft Word, you can use the formatting options to change the size, border, and overall look of the picture. The reason I have this on the list of free photo editors is because a lot of people already have it. If you have paid for your MS Word to write on, you might as well get as much as you can out of your money. Paste a picture into a document and see what happens for yourself.

Note that you may have to copy the image you create on Microsoft Word into a blank Paint document before you can save it. Otherwise you will get a document version of it that you can't pull up anywhere but Word.

GIMP

GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program, and it is one of the best free photo editors I have found. It is not exactly user friendly, but it gives you tons of editing options to test out. You can make layers, create transparent backgrounds, select colors, and do all kinds of other things in GIMP. It took me a long time to learn how to use it correctly, but I can attest to the fact that it is one of the best free programs out there. If you are looking for Photoshop options without the Photoshop price, this may be your best bet.

IrfanView

IrfanView is another great program to use when you want to edit images on the computer. You can optimize, crop, resize, rotate, convert, recolor, and do just about anything else you would want to an image. IrfanView is a good middle ground between Paint and GIMP because it has the user-friendliness of Paint with the extensive options of GIMP. It may be a little more complicated than Paint and a little less expansive than GIMP, but it is a good compromise as a whole.

Test out some of the programs above and see if any of them work for you. You might be able to do all of your editing for now without having to spend any money.

Starting Your Multimedia Career with an Online Education

Do you want to work in a multimedia career in the future? If so, you are going to need some kind of education to make that happen. Most careers in this industry require at least a bachelor's degree of some sort, but there are some that require even higher levels of education. Whether you are trying to become a graphic designer or work as a videographer, a college education could certainly do you some good. One of the best educational options of the modern world comes in the form of an online degree program. Here we will explore what you could learn from an online degree so you can potentially enroll in one in the future.

The Many Degrees Available Online

There are many different degree programs on the web, and you can have access to all of them without ever leaving the house. That is one of the beauties of getting an online education. You can change degrees without changing locations, and you can choose from a much larger selection of career opportunities. No matter what you decide to learn about – even if it has nothing to do with multimedia – you can still probably find a way to get an education online.

The Flexible Schedules Online

If you lead a busy life, you may not have time to attend school on a college campus. This is becoming more and more common in the modern world as college students take on jobs and raising families all while pursuing a degree. When you go to school online, you get to decide when you study and what you do for your degree program. You are literally in control of the whole process from start to finish, and that will give you the chance to get the best education possible. You can set up the schedule that puts the least stress on your mind, giving you the best chance of succeeding from the start.

The Affordability of Education Online

Going to college is far from affordable nowadays, no matter where you go or what you want to learn. Distance learning provides some of the most affordable degree programs in the country, so you should have no trouble being able to pay for school if you decide to go on the web. You can start your multimedia career with little to no debt at all, and you will still be able to get a legitimate degree to use in the future.

The Timing for Degrees Online

Online degree programs start all throughout the year, so you can begin your education whenever you want. If you think you want to start next week, you may be able to do that. If you want to start in a year, you could wait for that too. There are tons of different schools to choose from, and any one of them could lead you to the degree you want and needs. You just have to explore your options and see what sort of results you come up with.

With the wide range of multimedia degrees on the web, you should have no reason to avoid an online education. As long as you can maintain enough discipline to keep yourself on schedule with your classes, you could actually complete your degree program early by going to school online. If you have not looking into web-based schools in the past, this may be a great time to start. There are tons of colleges on the internet looking for students just like you to make the work force a better place.

Common Graphic Designer Salary Rates in the US

If you think you would make a good graphic designer, you may want to know what you could possibly make in this industry. The graphic design salary you may earn in the future isn't exactly predictable because there are so many factors that could go into determining what you earn every year. Your job experience, location, employer, and education will all play a role in figuring out what you will earn as a graphic designer, but it can't hurt to look over the average to get a rough idea of what you may earn in this field. Here are some different pay rates that you may see as a graphic designer later on.

Average Graphic Designer Salary

The average graphic designer salary covers a wide range of earning levels, so you may not be able to predict your potential salary based on this information. Here is a chart outlining the averages in the country at the moment:

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Expect to earn at the lower end of that range when you first start working as a graphic designer because it may take a while to reach the top of it. There is no cap to the money you could earn as a graphic designer though, so you just have to make sure you apply yourself in the future. The charts below will give you a better idea of some of the different salary levels you may see in graphic design.

Graphic Designer Salary by Location

• (1) Palo Alto, California: $31,340 - $96,547
• (2) Stamford, Connecticut: $30,913 - $70,585
• (3) McLean, Virginia: $40,815 - $68,467
• (4) Fairfax, Virginia: 34,521 - $81,070
• (5) San Francisco, California: $34,109 - $73,971
• (6) Sunnyvale, California: $21,243 - $97,871
• (7) Arlington, Virginia: $29,799 - $65,436
• (8) Alexandria, Virginia: $31,229 - $71,899
• (9) Irvine, California: $37,521 - $57,240
• (10) Boulder, Colorado: $30,968 - $54,500

Graphic Designer Salary by Industry

• Advertising: $26,745 - $55,004
• Graphic Arts: $26,023 - $58,751
• Marketing and Media Management: $26,157 - $54,103
• Printing and Publishing: $27,171 - $57,717
• Web Development: $27,488 - $61,578

Graphic Designer Salary by Degree

• Associate's Degree: $25,154 - $54,371
• Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design: $26,579 - $52,165
• Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design: $28,670 - $52,104
• Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design: $26,312 - $53,688

Graphic Designer Salary by Gender

• Male: $31,502 - $46,909
• Female: $31,104 - $44,590

Note that the information above is courtesy of PayScale.com as of January 1, 2012. It may not reflect the information at the time you read this article.

Free Programs to Use to Keep Your Computer Clean and Protected

If you work online or just spend a great deal of with computers and technology, you have to know that keeping your computer clean, fast, and protected is crucial to the lifetime of your computer. Getting a good anti-virus software is the first step to doing that, but afterward, there are a number of additional programs you can use on your computer that are absolutely free. Listed below are just a few of the ones you may want to look into if you want to protect your computer for your multimedia career.

CCleaner

CCleaner is a great program for cleaning off unused folders from your computer in attempts to make more space. A lot of time if you uninstall a program from your computer, the folders it was associated with still hang around. CCleaner can go in and find those empty files and delete them off your hard drive. CCleaner can also go in and remove registry files from your computer that you no longer need, thereby freeing additional space without you actually having to manually do anything. This program can also delete temporary internet files and even clean out your recycling bin, as per the options you check. It's a great way to really clean up some space on your computer.

For additional free space, you may also consider defragging your computer. This will take a lot longer, but if you haven't done that in awhile, it can drastically improve the speed and performance of your laptop or desktop. For everyday cleaning, however, CCleaner can do wonders.

MalwareBytes

This program is highly praised in the computer world and again, it's totally free to download and use. This will help protect your computer against malware that may come in through various internet transactions. You can run frequent scans of every file on your computer, especially if you feel that something is just not right. MalwareBytes does take a little while to do a full scan, but if you just leave it running over night, you can see how many threats are present in the morning. From there, you can have said threats removed and certain files quarantined, if you so desire.

SpyBot Search and Destroy

SpyBot protects your computer against spyware, and it is a bit faster to run than MalwareBytes. It protects against a different set of threats though, so it is important that you have both programs on your computer for a more complete level of protection. SpyBot can get a bit annoying at times because it asks if you are willing to accept certain changes whenever you download a new program to the computer. This is a safety measure though and is there for your benefit. Rather than complaining about it, be thankful that you have another layer of protection for your computer.

Hijack This

Hijack This isn't a program for everyone. You really have to "speak computer" to be able to use it. Assuming that is your lingo, Hijack This can allow you to see what programs are running on your computer at certain times, and it will allow you to see if there are other parties on your computer. This can also help you detect if there is something that needs to be stopped on your computer that may be running in the background and slowing everything down. Again, make sure you know something about the behind the scenes components of your computer before downloading or using this program. Otherwise it will be nothing but gibberish to you.

Anti-Virus Software

There are free anti-virus programs out there for internet and computer security. These programs, however, don't catch everything. If you rarely use the computer, they can be just fine. I'll assume you're a web junky though, so you might just have to shell out some money for a really good protection system. I use Kaspersky, but there are tons of other programs out there to choose from. You will just have to determine which one you want to use.

With a little bit of research, you should be able to find plenty of programs to protect your computer without robbing your wallet. You'll be able to take your software development courses in no time.