Utah Web Design Blog

Red Olive welcomes a new web developer to the team, Aric Beagley.  Been here two weeks and he is currently attempting to convince the office that Ubuntu makes for the best desktop OS, the Mac guys had to laugh, and the windows guys said what the hell is Ubuntu? Needless to say he isn’t getting very far with his campaign. However one thing we could all agree on, he has finally brought unity to the development team that jquery is king and should not be challenged by the inferior mootools.

Aric was brought on to raise the bar with our web2.0 and ajax efforts. So far so good. His CSS, JavaScript, and XML skills are amazing and in his short time here he has already made an impact on our development processes. 

And on a personal note, even though he is a die hard Mitsubishi EVO fan he has learned to tolerate conversations about the arch enemy the Shelby GT500, what a trooper.

Thanks Noah for your hard work and keeping it free!

We basically hit upon the next new trend in refreshments for business meetings that we are pretty positive is going to blow minds this summer — Otter Pops. No boring refreshments like colas, water, coffee or peanuts. We hope to have everyone sporting a day glow pop like some kind of radioactive glow stick protruding out of their mouths while we go over proposals — okay maybe it’s just a phase, but they’re quite refreshing. And thanks to Vince’s childhood reminiscing, we are now addicted to these (I’m partial to Alexander the Grape).

I’ve always shied away from calling myself a “writer.” As a Montana resident, the mountain steppe lands of central Montana to be more precise, any talk of being a writer might get you corralled into a holding pen and forced to “squeal like a pig,” under duress of a molten branding iron. And luckily my fondness for farm animals never came to fruition as expected by my peers, so I never stuck around with farm labor as a career path, but the work ethic and thick skin kept.

Hi, I’m Aaron, your SEO specialist and now fellow member and adopted kin clansman of Red Olive Design. After my hazing and initiation at the Olive, I’ll be happy to optimize your web site to produce happy search engine results. I’ve got the writing chops to do copy and simply know what works and what doesn’t. I’ve honed my writing craft working as a journalist, and fused that while working in business and marketing for the last several years.

I feel worthy that I’ve gained the respect from the folks at Red Olive and am truly at home with fellow minds that aren’t about aligning themselves with industry standards and burning through work for the bottom line. Money seems to be the only bottom line factor for much of industry today, but at the Olive, being genuine, thoughtful and hard working seems to be more their mark – mine too .

Just wanted to take a moment and formally introduce our latest addition at Red Olive, Aaron Vaughn. World champion soccer player, accomplished writer, SEO genius, and all around good guy. Ok so he doesn’t even play soccer but I will vouch for the rest! Aaron was brave enough to accept the challenge of being our full-time SEO analyst / copywriter.

The term “content is king” has never been more true for search engine marketing, above all else, good content is where it’s at. Not only does Aaron have a journalism degree from the University of Utah, he has worked for top tech companies in Utah.  Aaron transitioned to the Olive from one of the largest SEO firms in the state, bringing with him a wealth of marketing knowledge and insight.

As the seventh olive on the branch, our tree is stronger than ever before with roots growing ever deeper into design, development, and marketing. Thanks for choosing us to spend days with Aaron, we look forward to being dazzled.

The musical talent around here just keeps getting better. Our “boo” Merrick wrote a few songs that he performed with David Archuleta which officially got picked up by iTunes this week. You can buy the album Fear vs. Faith on iTunes by clicking here, best $1.98 you ever spent or your money back.  (Do it,  he needs the money to go on all the dates that resulted from the release)

P.S. Anyone interested in creating a music video for this album call Merrick,  shouldn’t be hard to beat the Broken Rose video which is the current benchmark. Sorry Justin. Way to go Merrick, as usual you made us proud!

2007 has been an amazing year here at the olive. What a difference a year makes, besides having our best year on record we were lucky enough to pick up some some amazing new people that fit like a glove. We owe much to our clients and friends, and just want you to know we appreciate the opportunities and relationships afforded us. Can’t say it enough but, Thank you.

Justin Wilde, our marketing wiz kid made the mistake of bringing in a music video of his old band Broken Rose. We felt it was too good to keep a secret and decided to up it to youtube and share it with the world. Turn your volume to the max and behold the music styling’s and amazing choreography of Broken Rose!

p.s. Justin is the Drummer and “Red sweats cool guy #2″ in the diner scene – LOL!

A couple weeks ago we met with a young man by the name of Merrick Christensen. And just so you know we are pretty guarded about prospective additions around here, blame it on fruitless interviews in the past, but there was something about him. When you have that “there’s something about you” factor we know what we have to do, hire you. To our, I hate to say surprise, we discovered a genuine guy with a true desire to learn, teach, and contribute to a team environment. Like the rest of us he is self motivated and has a multitude of skills. To say the least he has set a precedent for himself and we expect great things out of him.

Thanks for being so darned determined Merrick, we are proud to have you on our team.

Our wonderful Matthew Moeller, Owner, Technical Director, Designer, and Businessman extraordinaire returned from his 10 day trip on a European cruise with a gift for his fellow workers. Red Olives, fitting isn’t it. Well, to your surprise they aren’t real olives. They’re chocolate covered almonds (Olives au Chocolat) from Marseilles France. They’re a delicious treat for a busy day at the office. We’re glad that they had a good trip and we’re even more glad that they’re back.

THANKS Matt and Adriane!!!! (From all of us) Welcome back!