Displaying items by tag: Industry News

This articles examines how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the world of content creation including, authoring text and creating images. In addition to sharing some of the tools your competition may be implementing to get ahead of you, this article also provides facts on the history and evolution of Artificial Intelligence. The hope is that his article will help you realize the endless possibilities offered by Artificial Intelligence and what to expect in the future. 

Is the current economic crisis the real reason for tech industries recent reduction in workforces? Yes, the economy is in bad shape. Interest’s rates are high and inflation is climbing, but it is also evident that the recent leaps and bounds made within the developments of Artificial Intelligence (AI), is making it easier for BIG TECH to part with their employees.

Google Cuts 12.5% of Workforce in 2023

First, to put Google cuts in context: in Q3 2021 Alphabet Inc. reported 150,028  total employee’s. On January 20, 2023 Sundar Pichai CEO of Google and Alphabet released a statement “A difficult decision to set us up for the future”. His statement goes on to convey that “We’ve (Google) decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles” (12.5% of their company).  Later in the statement he says that the company is pivoting and recalls Google “to be AI-first years ago led to groundbreaking advances across our businesses and the whole industry.”

On September 14th through September 16, 2022, in coordination with National Hispanic Heritage Month, Sherwin Williams' "Chicago Latin American Resource Group" held their 1st annual "Fiesta Latina". This Sherwin Williams customer appreciation event provided resources for painting contractors of latin decent, fun, food, beverages, raffle prizes and 3 soccer tournaments. This event took place over three days at three different locations: Romeoville, Waukegan and Melrose Park.

AdverGroup Web Design was proud to serve as the event's exclusive website design company.  Our purpose at the event was to offer information and advice relative to website development and search engine optimization (SEO) for painting contractors in the Chicago area. AdverGroup provided "3 FREE CONTRACTOR WEBSITES" which were raffled off on each of the 3 days of this awesome event. We look forward to assisting these 3 winners in "turning their business!" Other vendors provided demonstrations on commercial painting equipment, while other vendors offered solutions relative to accounting, insurance, loans for business and mortgages for real estate.

Please take a moment to view the video produced by, and gallery of images captured by AdverGroup Web Design. 

WATCH VIDEO 

All business owners and entrepreneurs have the same goal:  That is to be found on page #1 of Google Search Engine.  That single objective requires most conventional businesses to travel along the same path. As a Creative Director based in the Chicago area, I have worked with countless clients over the years, these clients span countless industries. We work for old companies and start-ups, many of these clients even within the same industry, many of who are often even competitors. 

In any case, to become relevant in any industry or niche, the path these business owners must travel today, is not like the days of old.  They are not buying advertisements in the yellow pages or in newspapers (do either of those even still exist).  Client's seeking success in today's modern world of business are all looking to conquer search engines. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic, the World is seeing a shift in the way business is done. With much of the World’s work-force sidelined, and with retail stores closing across the United States, our economy is evolving and consumers are looking for virtual spaces to wander. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, for those of us who are fortunate enough to remain healthy, some of us have taken advantage of the World being paused, by getting our Spring cleaning accomplished at home.  Clearing closets and clutter have been accomplished. However, if you are a business owner and/or website owner, knowing where the World's economy is headed (online), have you reviewed your business plan and website to make sure they are both adequate vehicles that are capable of carrying your business into the future? 

This article provides some insight into copyright infringement and/or copyright claims, as it relates to the use of images on websites, while also offering ways to avoid copyright claims. This includes providing proactive actions and links to resources for free royalty-free stock images and paid royalty-free stock images.

If you own a website, or are a web designer who has used images without securing licensing then you probably know this can be a real costly endeavor. Copyright infringement is a real and occurs more often than you think.  This occurs both on purpose, and inadvertently.  In any case, the attorneys who will be contacting you do not care if it was a mistake or not. This is why it is important to use images from a trusted source (not Google Image Search), and/or license your images from a trusted stock image resource.

Before we get into providing solutions to avoiding copyright claims, let us first understand the nuts and bolts of the issue which can be realized by reviewing some frequently asked questions and answers relative to copyright infringement as it relates to "image usage on the internet".

In October of 2018 Google announced they would be "Protecting your data, improving our third-party APIs, and sunsetting consumer Google+".  Later in December another update would come as Google announced "Expediting changes to Google+". Most recently in December of 2018, deletion dates were provided when Google emphasized that it will shut down Google+, "due to low usage and challenges involved in maintaining a successful product that meets consumers’ expectations." as provided in Google's official statement.

While the number of mobile device users is growing, the number of social media networks is also constantly growing. However, with the recent news of Google sunsetting Google+, the "social media battle field" just got thinner. 

Mobile devices and social media have surely become a part of most peoples daily life. Today, these pocket sized computers have proven useful for users of all age groups. While smart phone owners use their devices for a variety of tasks including: entertainment, information and/or business; mobile devices coupled with the growth of social networks maybe changing the world beyond providing convenience as relates to access to email on the go. The use of mobile devices and the growth of social media may very well be responsible for shaping history, as it is widely believed that social media may have played a major part in the 2016 Presidential election. 

Though politics are discussed in this article, the focus of this article is technology based.

In 2015 Google notified all website owners of issues on their site relative to mobility issues. If your website was deficient and/or you have received an email that provided a warning stating that “Google systems has tested your site finding a percentage of your website’s pages to have critical mobile usability errors", then this is something you really should resolve.

Is it a valid concern if a website is not optimized for mobile devices? That question depends on the answer to another question. How many mobile device users are their versus desktop users. In May 2015, in the “Google Inside Adwords Blog”, within the article titled "Building for the next moment", Google stated that “Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries including the US and Japan”. Furthermore,  www.statista.com authored an article titled "Statistics and Facts on Mobile Internet Usage" which reports that "mobile phone internet user penetration was 52.7 percent in 2015" and suggests the figure will climb to 63.4 percent by 2017.

If you don’t know who Matt Cutts is, then you probably have not been paying much attention to the world of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). If you own or manage a website and have an interest in growing your web presence, then its time you learn more about Matt Cutts.

When viewing Google’s Management Team Page, provided on their company website. You will not see a photo or even a description of Matt Cutts. I find this funny considering, that when Matt Cutts speaks, his words have a more significant impact on the world of SEO than any other Google staff member.

Perhaps you are more familiar with the "stay thirsty" ad campaign put on by Dos Equis Beer. Whereas their spokesman is a older distinguished gentlemen who is lauded as "the most interesting man in the world". I could not help but to rewrite many of the popular sayings so that they are relevant to the world of SEO and Matt Cutts.

"Search engines base their results upon his guidelines"

"His words are considered golden"

"He is fluent in all search engine algorithms, even those that have not been developed yet"