Envato Notes

How to Give Spot on Support!

Carmen — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 08:10:31 +0000

We all know good customer service is an important part of running a successful business. Providing customer support can be the difference between gaining referrals, long term customers, gathering important feedback and giving your buyers a frustrating experience.

At Envato, authors are encouraged to provide support for their items and although it is often seen as a hassle, giving good support is a huge benefit for authors and buyers alike.

We’ve got ten tips to help you take your support to the next level.

Support by gunnar3000

As many authors know, we have been working on improving and upgrading our current item support system, especially for ThemeForest. There are going to be some exciting announcements about this in the near future. In the mean time, here are a few tips to get you thinking about your approach to support and what you can personally do to improve buyer experience.

1 ) Good documentation:

Envato requires you to include item documentation for particular items, use it to your benefit. Providing clear concise documentation will give a great foundation to your customer support. If you’ve covered all FAQ’s and provided all the troubleshooting tips buyers may need, it will reduce the amount of people contacting you for support.

2 ) Label everything clearly:

One of the biggest issues buyers have is not being able to find the documentation and files after downloading the item. Make your files easy to find and identify and you won’t get frustrated buyers saying they haven’t received the correct files.

3 ) Easy to follow advice:

When giving support make sure you give clear and basic answers. The buyer might not have your practical experience and will need to know the simplest way to overcome their problem. Giving easy to follow advice will help the buyer understand and put your words to practice.

4 ) Keep your cool:

Maintain a professional and calm manner when dealing with support issues. This is especially important when faced with frustrated buyers. Treat your buyers with respect, regardless of how they are behaving. Your best option is to conduct your business in the most admirable way possible. That way other buyers can see that you always do your best, even when someone is behaving inappropriately.

5 ) Set up a system that works for you:

Make sure you set up a support system that works for you. Take time to plan your support strategy and integrate support duties into your daily routine. Putting aside time for support will help you deal with it consistently and help you manage your time.

6 ) Try to respond quickly and appropriately:

The hardest part when providing support is replying promptly, especially when you are swamped by support requests. Do your best to communicate with your buyers and if unable to answer their question straight away, let them know. For example: “Hey, I’m in the process of answering your support query but it will take another day before I am able to get back to you.”

7 ) Apologize if you’ve done something wrong, and put it right:

Everyone makes mistakes and if you have made an error or done something wrong, be the first to acknowledge it and apologize, then do your best to fix it. This attitude shows that you care about your business, didn’t intend to make a mistake and are responsible for your own actions. Dealing with conflict and issues in an admirable way speaks volumes about you as an author and person.

8 ) Respond to feedback and suggestions:

Resolving problems promptly and engaging customers is a great way to build rapport. Use your social media networks to speak to your customers and help resolve their problems. Social media is often a faster way of dealing with simple support problems and you can informally reassure your buyers that you are looking into the issue.

9 ) Listen properly to complaints:

Complaints are a valuable source of feedback and the best bit is they are free! Some people complain even if service is awesome and sadly you can never avoid dealing with complaints! The positive in this situation is that listening to critical feedback gives you a great opportunity to listen and correct problems.

10 ) Be a customer:

Most fast food chains suggest their new recruits do this and it is an interesting and often eye opening experience. Be the customer, shop for items, wait in the queues, deal with the customer support and it will help you give better support! If you experience the process from the customer’s point of view you will quickly see how to improve any issues.

Giving spot on support is not always easy and the bigger your company and client base, the harder it can be. Customer support is a huge learning experience and even we are constantly trying to improve and upgrade our system to keep our authors and buyers happy.

The simple truth to remember is that helping people who purchase your products is part of your job. If you do it well, you will reap the rewards. We hope you find these tips helpful and that they inspire you to think about and streamline your support service.

Freebie Friday: Freebies on AppStorm

Adrian Try — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:19:13 +0000

The AppStorm team have been hard at work again. Here is a huge bunch of great free apps and web services they covered.

Mac.AppStorm

Mixxx: A Serious Open-Source Contender to Traktor and Virtual DJ?

The market for DJ software has never been bigger, as more and more bedroom DJs shun purchasing traditional equipment such as turntables and CDJs in favour of the more accessible and cheaper software option. As a DJ who got into the hobby through the use of software, I’m always on the lookout for new programs that boast an impressive range of tools, while still remaining affordable for newcomers to DJing.

Mixxx, an open source digital DJ app that started life way back in 2001 as a university project has recently become a hot topic among computer DJs following the 1.10.0 release in December, which added a number of features that until recently were only found on more expensive DJ software such as Traktor and Virtual DJ.

I decided to download Mixxx for myself and thoroughly test it out to see if it truly was a replacement for my current favourites, Traktor and Virtual DJ. Read on for my thoughts.
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ServeToMe: Streaming Your Ripped Videos Has Never Been So Easy

As smartphones have advanced over the last few years, their storage capacities have grown by leaps and bounds. All that space means more apps, music, and movies to use while on the go. However, transferring large amounts of media files can be a tedious and time-consuming task, (particularly if you sync over WiFi).

Fortunately, a simple solution exists that allow us to stream our media to phones, tablets and laptops, thus eliminating the need to sync to our various devices. But does the convenience of personal streaming outweigh the limitations inherent to such a solution?
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Web.AppStorm

Scrible: Marking Up the Web

I am a huge fan of moving more toward the web and away from native software. There are a variety of reasons for this, and I have realized the more we start to move away from software and to the web, the more we are going to need tools to edit on the web. I can think of two recent examples of this, where a friend of mine sent me a link to a new blog he is trying to write as well as students sending me essays online. Having tools to edit these pages online would be so helpful.

This is where a tool like Scrible comes in very handy. It is a toolbar that gives you a variety of options to edit webpages, save them, and then send them off. Scrible opens up a lot of possibilities for the web and it gives us the chance to give instant feedback.
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Capsule: Organize Your Next Group Event

Everybody knows what it’s like to be the one in charge of organizing that group event. Whether it’s a party, business weekend trip, or a trip up to your favorite camping spot with a couple of buddies, it can be a pain to administrate everything and get all the details down correctly so the event goes smoothly. And if anything goes wrong, guess who everyone blames?

Various tools have been developed to try to make the process easier, but most of them are either far too complicated or not powerful enough to make organizing group events as easy as pie. Capsule attempts to find the proper balance between bloated and overly simple, to make planning group events as easy as it can be. Let’s see if it hits the mark, and can help organizing your next group event easier.
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Simple Social Event Planning with Plangr

Online event planning is as old as the Internet itself. Spend a few bucks (or not) and a web app will do most of the heavy lifting, making you the perfect host. People are very much accustomed to receive evites and RSVPing online as the entire process makes lives easier for the event planner and attendees alike.

But what if you are looking to break the tradition of inviting only friends and acquaintances for a get together or a soft ball game? How to invite people in your locale who happen to enjoy dunking hoops or pitching a ball but aren’t in your contact list? That’s where Plangr fits the bill perfectly. Follow me after the fold to find exactly how novel the app is.
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CheckThis: Getting Creative With a Single Web Page

Creating a website and a blog can be a lot of fun, and also a lot of work at times. There are some great resources out there to help you make quick blogs and websites, but the one thing that is wrong with them, is that you are expected to have a lot of posts or pictures which take up more than one page. What if you just want to post one thing and that is it? To go through all of the hassle of creating a website or blog is too much work for just one post.

This is where CheckThis can come in very handy. It takes blogging and creating a website and strips it down to its simplest form. CheckThis puts a whole new spin on making a web page and after playing with it for a bit, I can see how useful this web app can really be.
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Create Clickable Designs and Test Interface Ideas with Solidify

So you’ve got a great idea for a new app. You pull out some napkins or open a drawing app on your phone, and sketch out some rough ideas. Your next hit app is already taking shape, and in your mind’s eye, you can see it running in action. You can see yourself looking over people’s shoulders at coffee shops and smiling, knowing they’re using your app. But first, you’ve got to make sure you’re not the only one thinking your design makes sense. And shuffling through random pictures or napkin drawings isn’t the best way for people to get a feel for how an app will work.

What you need is a simple way to turn your images into a clickable demo that feels like using a real app, without you needing to write a single line of code. Solidify is a new private release app from ZURB that makes this as easy as uploading your images, adding clickable areas, and sharing a link. Now, even snapshots of your napkin-drawn app ideas could become live demos!
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Quick Look: Mailjet

In this Quick Look, we’re highlighting Mailjet. The developer describes Mailjet as a service for cheaper, better and faster emailing

Mailjet is a real-time Cloud Emailing platform that provides you full scalability and better deliverability for all your emails, whether it’s marketing / bulk or transactional.

Mailjet optimizes your deliverability. It’s easy-to-use, via the online platform and easy to integrate via SMTP or API. At any moment, you can scale your volumes up or down.
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Pintrest + Ping = This Is My Jam

As we all, know social sharing is huge and is becoming more and more popular. We have sites like Pintrest and Gentlemint, which I reviewed a while back, that have grown in popularity due to people loving to share the things that they like and want others to know about. So I guess, it would be only natural that people would also want to share the music they are listening to as well.

I know there have been times when I have just wanted to share with others a song that is inspiring me for that day or a song that was stuck in my head. This Is My Jam could very well be that site that fulfills this need for me. It is kind of like what you would get if Pinterest and Ping for iTunes decided to combine one day.
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iPhone.AppStorm

Simple And Nice To Dos With Later

If you’ve read any of my previous articles here at AppStorm, you might have noticed that I review a lot of task management apps, and this one’s no exception! Later is one of those apps that combine simplicity with function and a beautiful interface. It let’s you manage your tasks with ease, and set reminders quickly. It boasts quite a beautiful interface and includes achievements to make the experience more fun and game-like.

They advertise the app as a task management utility for busy and lazy people, so join me to take a look at this app and see if what they claim holds true.
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Sleipnir: Gesture-driven Browsing on the iPhone

For the longest time, I didn’t feel the need to play around with alternative iOS browsers. Why would I, when Mobile Safari fulfilled just about every need that I had? I was content with Apple’s default offering, and would skim through browser reviews just to say I had checked out the competition.

This changed with a review that I read on our sister site, Mac.AppStorm. Joshua Johnson reviewed Sleipnir, a browser that combined WebKit rendering with a powerful, gesture-based navigation system. I immediately downloaded the app on the iPhone and began to play with it. Here are my thoughts.
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Wordy: The Logophile’s Primer Reference Dictionary

In the app store there are plenty of dictionaries to choose from. Some of these apps may cost a pretty penny, others are offered for free. But rarely do you find an app that has the functionality of a dictionary which backs up from multiple data sources.

Wordy is branded as “The Logophile’s Primer” for good reason. The app lets you browse through a large collection of dictionary definitions, synonyms and antonyms, and behaves as a powerful reference tool. And the best part is that it’s entirely free to download for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users.
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Smartr: Smarter Contacts For Your iPhone

With the advent of social media and the amount of people that we are coming in contact with on a daily or weekly basis, the basic address book is no longer cutting it. The days of knowing only someone’s phone number and email are no longer acceptable because there is so much more information on that person.

Up until now, Apple never has done anything spectacular with their Address Book on either the Mac or iOS, so you know that this space was ripe for the picking. I believe that Smartr Contacts may have come at a good time. Let’s find out after the jump.
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Pinterest: A Social Network With Legs

There are so many new social networks out there that it gets daunting just to keep up. Between Facebook, Twitter, Path, Oink, Tumblr and everything else, who has time to actually get anything done? That’s why, for me, it takes an awful lot to decide to come onboard a new system.

But then Pinterest happened. At first, I wasn’t really sure if I liked it — it did seem a bit girly for my taste — and I wasn’t quite sure how it would fit into my life. But then I got the iPhone app, and a new perspective came up that I hadn’t really considered before: could I be social while still being unsocial?
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Rid Yourself of Junk Mail With PaperKarma

Junk mail. For some of you, these two words may bring about a feeling of unease or outright aggression. In the digital age, spam email is simple enough to get rid of, but junk paper mail remains an elusive arch nemesis, continually plaguing your mailbox. It’s simple enough to throw away mail that you don’t need or want, but wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t receive that mail at all?

To rid yourself of such junk mail, you’d need to contact the supplier of said mail and request that they refrain for sending additional junk. That is until the release of PaperKarma, an extremely simple-to-use tool that does this dirty work for you. Find out how after the jump.
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iPad.AppStorm

Unstuck: Find Your Motivation and Be Inspired

We’ve all been there. Writer’s block, designer’s block, whatever sort of mental block, we’ve all experienced it. Perhaps you’re feeling unmotivated. You might be afraid to take the next step, or maybe you’re just not sure what the right decision is and so you’re not moving forward.

Whatever the reason, we’ve all had a moment where we’re just feeling very stuck. For those moments, Unstuck is the app for you. Unstuck aims to help you uncover the reason that you’re feeling stuck in that moment through a series of questions and decisions. After discovering the reason you’re stuck, it takes you through one of several exercises to help you find whatever it is that you need to move past that moment.

Unstuck is an incredible and free application. Whatever the reason is that you’re feeling stuck, Unstuck will be able to help you out. Read on for a more detailed description, a sample exercise and some thoughts on the app.
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Color Uncovered: Color to Dye For

Forgive me, the pun in the title isn’t even my own. It’s merely the given name of one of the intriguing chapters in Color Uncovered, one of the most visually engaging apps I’ve ever reviewed – but not in the way you might be thinking!

Whether you’re a curious child, a fascinated adult, or a desperate science teacher who needs some inspiration for teaching the theory behind colours to students, Color Uncovered is an experience to behold.
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Android.AppStorm

Finally, Chrome Has Come to Android

When it comes to my mobile browser, I’m but a simple man. I don’t use Opera Mini or Dolphin or Firefox. The stock browser is fine for me because I don’t use gestures and Chrome is my primary desktop browser so I wouldn’t benefit from the syncing capabilities of Firefox. In my experience, the stock browser was always the fastest and least intrusive as far as taking up screen real estate. Then Google released Chrome Beta for Android, and all of that changed. Let’s take a look at what Google’s first crack at a mobile version of Chrome is like.

Let’s get this out of the way first: the beta is only available for those of us lucky enough to have Ice Cream Sandwich on our phones; further, it’s only available in certain countries. Finally, there is no Flash support. Keep that in mind as we go forward.
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Release Your Inner Chef With Pepperplate

While I love looking up recipes and cooking for my family, I hadn’t been doing either as often as I would’ve liked to over the previous year. Now, armed with a new freelancer’s flexible work schedule, I started to hunger for a way to put my recipes in order, buy the right ingredients (and the right quantities), and get productive in the kitchen. Thankfully, I found a helping hand in the form of Pepperplate.

There are plenty of apps on the Android Market to help you with collecting recipes, buying groceries and planning your menus, but I haven’t been able to stick to using them. Pepperplate does all these things, and looks good at the same time. It’s also dead simple to use, and free. So whip out those smartphones and let’s whip up some grub!
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Pocket Frogs: Collect, Farm, Breed, and Race Virtual Pets

Pocket Frogs is an absorbing and multi-faceted game from Mobage. The aim of the game is to breed frogs, create unique habitats for them, tame them, catalogue them, and even race them against other frogs! There are several elements to the game that make Pocket Frogs a distinct and engrossing title that is as refreshing and original as it is addictive. So, for details as to how to collect a diverse range of colourful froggies, leap on!
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Simple, Universal Image Editing With Aviary Photo Editor Plugin

With the cameras on mobile phones getting better by the hour, smartphone users on all mobile OS platforms are spoilt for choice when it comes to photo editing apps. But if you have tried a few, you probably already know that not all of them are worth the precious space on your phone. Even Adobe Photoshop – the king of the hill in the desktop image editing arena and something I was excited to no end to see on Android – has been quite a disappointment as far as editing prowess and flexibility goes.

So when Aviary, Adobe’s counterpart as far as web apps go, decided to come out with an Android version of their photo editor, I knew better than to hike up my expectations.
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Windows.AppStorm

Get Social With RockMelt

I remember first hearing about RockMelt a couple of years ago when I wasn’t quite as active on social networks. Google Chrome with some Facebook extensions baked in? That’s supposed to get me to switch?

I scoffed, tried it out and scoffed some more. But now that I manage multiple accounts on various social networks, every little time-saver helps. And that’s why I’m glad I checked out the latest version.
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Watermarked Previews in Item Previews

Jordan McNamara — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:35:31 +0000

Recently on Envato Notes we have had a couple of posts discussing the correct way to license and use someone else’s images and assets in preview items. You can catch up on both posts here: Envato Content Policy and Portfolio Review and Use of Assets in Previews on the Envato Marketplaces.

I know that many authors are looking for ways in which they can maintain a high standard of quality for their item previews on the Marketplaces while at the same time ensuring that they are complying with our content policy. With this in mind, today we would like to bring to your attention that our terms of usage grant the right to use any watermarked preview from the Marketplaces in your own item previews so long as it includes a link back to the original item, and so long as the item preview is used only on for Envato Marketplace items.

Similarly as an author you are granting other Envato Marketplace authors the same preview usage right with the same requirement to link back to your item. This part of the agreement was introduced in 2010 with the aim of encouraging cross promotion amongst authors, effectively upselling our buyers to purchase items from more than one author at a time.

Using Watermarked Images in Your Item Preview

Images are the most common usage scenario for authors looking to use watermarked items in their previews. Since the launch of PhotoDune last year, our authors now have access to a large pool of watermarked photos. In fact we hope that this usage will gradually replace our rather old Asset Library, in favour of both a larger and better selection, and a usage that actually promotes other authors!

Example of a watermarked image from PhotoDune

Human brain and colorful question mark by Lawren on PhotoDune.

So again, you can use a watermarked image from PhotoDune without asking permission, so long as it only shows in the item preview, and so long as you credit the author of the image and link back to the original item page clearly in your description.

If you wish to use an unwatermarked image from PhotoDune in your item preview then you will need to purchase a regular license. If you wish to distribute an unwatermarked image from PhotoDune in the download file, you will need to purchase an extended license.

Although the most common usage of this policy is to use images from PhotoDune, the same concept applies to using music loops from AudioJungle, preview images from GraphicRiver and so on.

How to Credit and Link Back

When you use a watermarked preview in your own item preview, you must provide a credit to the author and a linkback. The simplest form of this would be in your item description to write:

The image shown is not included with the item. However you can purchase it from AuthorName by going to [link]

Some authors get even more creative, check out how Ex7Reme has linked back to Tim McMorris’ audio track from a top selling After Effects project:

I personally encourage authors to be generous in their linkage and help showcase our amazingly talented author community. It’s good karma, and I think the more our authors do this, the more everyone benefits.

FAQ on Image Use in Previews

If you have questions about what images you can and cannot use in item previews, please feel free to ask in the comments. Here are a few question/answer combos you might find helpful.

Q. If I buy an image from PhotoDune via the Regular or Extended license, can I use the same image for multiple projects or multiple marketplace files that I create/sell?

Yes! You may re-use the image you purchase multiple times, for example in multiple item previews.

Q. Can I use watermarked images from the Envato Marketplaces in my live previews hosted off-site?

Yes! So long as you are using the watermarked content exclusively for an item preview of an Envato Marketplace file.

So to be clear if you are a non-exclusive author and selling the same item elsewhere, you should not use watermarked Envato Marketplace previews in your item preview.

Q. Can I use watermarked images from the Envato Marketplaces in my previews on other marketplaces?

No. You can only use watermarked content in item previews on Envato Marketplaces. If your item is sold on other marketplaces, you’ll need to consider how to best source content for item previews (eg by purchasing a regular licence).

Q. Can I use unlicensed (watermarked or otherwise) content from other sites in my item previews?
No, not unless you are getting it from a service which specifically grants this right. To be clear most stock photo services do not give you this right. You are responsible for ensuring you have the correct license for all uses on the Marketplaces.

Q. Can I use anything I want in my live preview (because it is not hosted on the Envato Marketplaces)?
No. You must ensure that your live preview complies with the Marketplace content policy.

We hope that this helps to clarify some of the rules surrounding what content you can use to help spruce up your items on the Marketplaces!

Happy Selling!

5 Ways to use ReplyPantry

Travis King — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:03:50 +0000

If you know me, you know I’m all about doing the most amount of work with the least amount of effort If you ever come across a guy at the beach with a tattoo that says I Heart the Pareto Principle, that may well be me. Of course, you’d probably never find me at a beach and since I live in Canada I’m covered in a fine polar bear-like fur so you probably wouldn’t be able to see the tattoo anyway.

But you get the idea…

One of my jobs at Envato is taking care of the submission for our Envato Extras site. Envato Extras is a collection of awesome tools that our community has come up with. While searching for and adding new items, I come across a ton of helpful tools that save me time and make my life a whole lot easier. Today we’re going to take a look at one of those tools – ReplyPantry.

What is ReplyPantry

Dictionary.com defines the word pantry as – a room or closet in which food, groceries, and other provisions, or silverware, dishes, etc., are kept. In a pantry you are likely to find row after row of canned pickles interspersed with the occasional bread pudding that has been around since the first moon landing. Think of it as the dusty food collection that we’ll probably only eat if we’re trying to survive a nuclear winter.

Fortunately, ReplyPantry is nothing like that.

While ReplyPantry does store items, what it collects is neither dusty nor pickled. Here’s how creator Sevenspark describes it:

I’ve been working on a Google Chrome Extension that allows you to store canned text for use in the Envato marketplace forums and on product comments. I find myself posting the same responses over and over again in my item comments as well as here in the forums. Rather than type the same message out all the time, I thought it’d be nice to have those messages readily accessible as canned text. It even comes preloaded with some popular text snippets.

In a nutshell, ReplyPantry ads a little bucket of text snippets of your making that you can quickly add to your Marketplace posts. It saves both time and effort! I think I’m in love.

But if you need more incentive to give ReplyPantry a try, here’s a list of…

5 Ways to use ReplyPantry?

Support – I’m always using this tool to paste in text snippets on how to get support. Whether it’s support from an author or Envato’s Support Team, it saves a bunch of time having the basic directions stored in ReplyPantry.
Favorite Links – If you find some helpful links for Marketplace authors and users, why not store them in ReplyPantry for future use. Who knows when an opportunity will arise where you need to pull one out.
Helpful Information – There’s plenty of times when a question will be asked several times on the forum. If you have a helpful response to previously asked questions, store it in ReplyPanty for when the question comes up again.
Staff Replys – The Envato staff like to help out by answering questions on the forums. If there is a particularly helpful Staff reply on a forum question, keep a copy of it in ReplyPantry so you can reference it when needed.
Posting a picture of Chuck Norris – Every so often on the forums there may be a need to post a picture of Chuck Norris. Should that need arise, storing the link in ReplyPantry will make the job a whole lot easier. For example…

You’re welcome.

What do you use ReplyPantry For?

Surly there are a ton of more useful ways to use ReplyPantry. If you have an ingenious way of using it, we’d love to hear about it in your comments. And if you haven’t used it yet, get over to Envato Extras and download it now!

Your Say: Mac or Windows?

Adrian Try — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:53 +0000

Mac vs PC 43/365 by Louish Pixel

Today we’ll ask the age-old question: Mac or Windows? It will be interesting to see which is most popular in the Envato community.

I’ve been keeping a tally in my head every time I publish an interview or “Meet the Staff” or workspace or desktop post. I think the race is very close.

I’d be keeping a tally on how many use Linux too, but I’m sure it’s already lost the race. But I’ve added an “other” category just in case. And you can select as many operating systems as you use.

So let the race begin. Which operating system do you use?

ThemeForest Theme Featured in WordPress Genius Guide

Josh Sprague — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:17:03 +0000

ThemeForest.net file featured in WordPress Genius Guide

Congratulations to ThemeForest author Kailoon (real name Kai Loon Chan) whose work has been featured in the first ever issue of WordPress Genius Guide! Kai Loon’s file Our Magazine is being given away on the cover CD of Volume 1 of the all new WordPress Genius Bookazine. Well done, Kai Loon!

Our Magazine by Kailoon, $35 (or FREE in Volume 1 of WordPress Genius Guide)

ThemeForest.net WordPress Theme - Our Magazine

WordPress Genius Guide - Our Magazine

Well done, Kai Loon, always exciting to see/hear ThemeForest being mentioned in print!

This Week’s Featured Authors

Adrian Try — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 03:00:46 +0000

Congratulations to this week’s featured marketplace authors!

Featured ActiveDen Author: flash2d

This week’s featured author is flash2d, who has 13 items, including the newest from the Cartoons category.
View flash2d’s Portfolio

Featured AudioJungle Author: Allegro120

This week’s featured author is Allegro120, who has 51 items, including the newest from the Individual category.
View Allegro120′s Portfolio

Featured ThemeForest Author: outerspice

This week’s featured author is outerspice, who has 8 items, including the newest from the Blog / Magazine category.
View outerspice’s Portfolio

Featured VideoHive Author: MrMotion

This week’s featured author is MrMotion, who has 11 items, including the newest from the Corporate category.
View MrMotion’s Portfolio

Featured GraphicRiver Author: redeffect

This week’s featured author is redeffect, who has 21 items, including the newest from the Miscellaneous category.
View redeffect’s Portfolio

Featured 3DOcean Author: andyskb

This week’s featured author is andyskb, who has 6 items, including the newest from the Phone category.
View andyskb’s Portfolio

Featured CodeCanyon Author: CodeCanopy

This week’s featured author is CodeCanopy, who has 4 items, including the newest from the Miscellaneous category.
View CodeCanopy’s Portfolio

Featured Tutorials Author: Zeplix

This week’s featured author is Zeplix, who has 30 items, including the newest from the Adobe Photoshop category.
View Zeplix’s Portfolio

Featured PhotoDune Author: JohanSwanepoel

This week’s featured author is JohanSwanepoel, who has 172 items.
View JohanSwanepoel’s Portfolio

Check Out Our New Rockable Book: “Getting to Know SEO”

Adrian Try — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:07:44 +0000

Rockable Press have just released a new book: Getting to Know SEO. In this book, content analyst and SEO expert Andre Kibbe gives you a solid grasp of what SEO is all about, and how it can help you generate steady and sustainable traffic to your site or product.

What’s Inside?

Optimizing your website to rank as high as possible on search engines is more important than ever. But the Web is full of snake oil salesmen offering questionable tips and theories to make your site Number 1 overnight. Fear not – there’s nothing like that in this book.

Instead, you’ll receive simple and sensible explanations that give you a solid grasp of what SEO is all about, and how it can help you generate sustainable traffic to your site. Andre explains:

Whether you have a blog or an ecommerce site, you need to have a keyword strategy that accounts for what’s visible on the page, and what’s baked into your site’s HTML.

You’ll find out how editing the title tag of a web page can make a huge difference, and how to compare the commercial value of dozens of keywords using a spreadsheet and a formula that projects the potential AdSense earnings each keyword would bring in with a #1 ranking.

One thing you won’t get from Getting to Know SEO is a dump of questionable SEO theory and tips. Genuine SEO isn’t an overnight phenomenon. It’s simple, but not easy.

If you’re willing to do the work of writing and editing your content to be keyword compliant, and do some link building, you can get the most sustainable, qualified traffic available: search traffic.

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Author Interview: Balistique

Adrian Try — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:00:42 +0000

Living in Istanbul, being inspired by music, “do not make something just to make it”, and being a Google lover. This week we meet Mesut Danış (Balistique) from VideoHive.

If you’re an Envato marketplace author and would like to be interviewed for the blog, head over to this form. We’d love to hear from you.

Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from, what do you do for a living?

My name is Mesut and I’m 27 years old. I’m from Turkey and I live in Istanbul. I grew up here and I love this city.

I’ve been working as a motion/3D designer for eight years. I worked in several national TV channels and production companies. At the moment I’m only working as a freelancer.

I love my job because it makes me really happy to create things that people likes and it’s a great feeling to know people appreciate your work. I can’t imagine myself doing another job.

Which marketplaces do you belong to? What types of files do you sell?

I’m an VideoHive author and I make After Effects templates for VideoHive. I make trailers, intros, presentation and openers, etc. But I want to be a part of 3DOcean and GraphicRiver in the future if I can manage to find spare time from my work.

How did you get started? Have you had any formal training?

When I finished high school I was playing professional basketball, but it wasn’t as good as I expected it. One day I meet a friend of mine, who works for a production company. We had a little chat about his job. After a short while I started working for the same company and that’s where I met After Effects.

I have not had any formal training, but my curious personality helped me a lot to learn all about After Effects and other software. I have had a lot of help from the Internet as well.

Describe your home workspace.

I have a small and simple office in my house. I use a mid level PC computer. And that’s where I do all my work.

I have some of my projects posters on my wall for motivation, and most importantly I have my Vuvuzella on my table for making my music.

Describe your creative process. What steps do you normally follow to create your files?

Most of my items started with music. For me music is very important because it’s where I get all the inspiration. When I listen to music I start imagining scenes, then I start working on them. Then I follow my imagination and everything comes along. Every project has its own process.

What is your advice to other authors regarding how to create a successful portfolio?

Our job has a very strong competition. Because of that, only unique and quality items can survive.

The most important thing I can advise is, do not make something just to make it. Try to use your imagination to make a variety of items that have quality and stand out.

What do you do to market your files?

I have a website where I have all my works presented. I also upload my videos to some social websites.

What are your three favorite files, and why do you like them?

My fist favourite file is BlacKnight. It helped boost the attention to my items.

My second favourite file is UnitedMotions. I made this template with my wife Berrin, and it was fun working with her.

My third favourite file is Purple Party, because its my best seller.

Apart from yourself, who is your favorite marketplace author, and why do you like them?

I have three answers for this question.

InlifeThrill. I like him because this guy makes remarkable files.
sonorafilms. I like him because this guy is a master of the keyframes.
DaniMult. I like him because this guy has his own unique style.

What do you do in your spare time?

Generally I do not have any spare time. I am a computer guy and I love my Google.

Goodbye Cruel World

John Barton — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:54:17 +0000

For those of you who don’t know Australian music very well Goodbye Cruel World is the title of the greatest hits album Brisbane band Custard released when they broke up. As most of the Envato community isn’t based in Australia, I’m guessing that covers most of you. Goodbye Cruel World also makes a pretty good title for the blog post where I say goodbye to Envato.

In a few weeks I’ll be finishing up as manager for the Marketplaces dev team and moving on. I’ve had an amazing four years working for Envato. When I think back to the time when I joined, to where we are today, I can’t help but think what an amazing run it’s been. I joined the company when we had only one marketplace, FlashDen (in fact that was the company name then too), and I was roughly user number 38,000. We now have nine marketplaces and around 1.4 MILLION users. We could fit an entire database backup on a burnt CD back then! Those were simpler times.

For those who are wondering, I’m leaving to join my friend (and former Envato dev team member) Glen‘s startup Goodfilms. I could never have left Envato for just another regular job, Envato is just such a different and special place I’m probably ruined for normal corporate gigs for life. That said, I’ve always wanted to try the startup life, so when Glen tapped me to join him as co-founder I decided it was time to give it a go.

I want to say a big thanks to the community of authors and buyers across all of the marketplaces. I think that one of the best things about this job compared to others I’ve had is the very direct and genuine relationship the community and staff have built over the years. I’d been used to jobs where they stuff the developers in a corner and tell you to be quiet… to have been able to talk every day in the forums with the users actually using your work has been absolutely amazing. Beyond just being fun and motivating, I think that the back and forth between the community and the dev team has been the biggest factor in making the marketplaces what they are today. So once again, to everyone using the marketplaces and jumping on the forums – Thanks!

So what does this mean for the Marketplace Dev Team? Ideally it will be business as usual. Pete, who has been lead architect and second in charge for the past couple of years, will run the team while we search for someone to lead the team forward. The team itself is the strongest it’s ever been, and growing rapidly.

I can’t remember the last time I wrote a welcome or goodbye forum post about the team so I’ll just give you the full roster: Lucas, Pete, Jack (or Chendo), Mark, Ben, Matthieu, Dave, Steve, and then Julian who starts in a week or so. These guys are all top shelf developers and I feel like I’m leaving the marketplaces in the best possible hands.

So see you later Envato, thanks for an awesome 4 years and the best job I’ve ever had.

P.S. The header image is from way back when Glen was on the team and we did the massive server move project in 2010.