July, 2010

5 Articles
27th July 2010
Social Media / Networking

Konami Code

A recent mock up for a new design had a couple of us musing on the avenues for adding interesting discoverable content to websites. By interesting I of course mean silliness that may not be appreciated by the clientèle and so the thought ended there. There are however websites that have audiences that are perhaps more appreciative of easter eggs. A growing subset of these use the Konami Code first seen back in the heady days of the NES. Enter the elusive code on such a site and all manner of wackiness occurs. Try it on Facebook for instance. Clearly it’s a bit onerous to try this on every website you visit just on the off chance they have something for you but thankfully wikipedia steps up with this handy list – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Konami_code_websites

Want to add it to your website ? Konami-js provides an easy drop in solution http://www.snaptortoise.com/konami-js/ and there’s a jQuery plug-in for fans of that library http://www.gethifi.com/blog/konami-code-jquery-plugin-pointlessly-easy

P.s. It’s Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A

19th July 2010
SEO

“Link baiting” – Just another term for building a good website?

SEO has its fair share of buzz words these days (we are marketers after all), one that is particularly common of late is “link baiting”. Don’t worry if you haven’t heard of this term before or if you’re not sure what it actually means because it’s quite simple really…

The term “link baiting” refers to a simple strategy for naturally increasing the number of links to your website, and as we all know the more links you have coming in to your website the higher your page rank and the better your site will rank in the SERP’s. Link baiting is a completely natural approach to link building and will leave your site with genuine, organically built links; it does not involve buying links, endlessly commenting on blogs, using any automated posting software or anything wacky like that. With this system other people will build links to your website for you and best of all it is so simple that any website owner can do it.

So what is the catch and how does it work?

Ok, lets get down to brass tacks…link baiting…lets think about it. The clue is in the name – so we are laying bait to promote people to link to our sites. I guess the big question is, what is the bait?

The bait can be anything that engages people, something they like, use, need or enjoy – something so engaging and attention grabbing they just have to link to it. So what type of content can cause enough of a fuss that people, without being asked, decide to link to your website? Well the first question is probably what kind of people are you looking to attract and what will engage them? This is when market research and a good knowledge of your customers comes into play, the answer is very different depending on the type and role of your website.

Common types of “link bait” include Interviews with industry guru’s, useful industry tools, great articles, specialised reports, contests, reviews, controversial opinions, free resources and tools, “how to” articles and videos, and anything else that you think might appeal you your audience.

In short, what you are looking to do here is build a good website. If you build a high quality, well thought out, engaging website that is focused around the user then you should never need to build a single link to your website – given time they will come to you.

To go back to Google phrase from time gone by, “content is king”.

19th July 2010
Web Development

CSS3 PIE

Internet Explorer has long been the bane of modern web development and while Microsoft are forging ahead with an ever growing list of features for IE9 there will still be for some time a need to support earlier versions. To meet the need for brand spanking new HTML and CSS support in old browsers there is a slowly increasing list of workarounds usually involving Javascript that enables the latest features. While certainly not the first CSS3 PIE is one of the more interesting solutions to the problem as it adds some of the more eye catching styling abilities of CSS3 to IE6 thru 8. With the addition of a simple behaviour file to your CSS you can have support for gradients, shadows and yes, even rounded corners.

http://css3pie.com/

16th July 2010
Social Media / Networking

Cyber Cops?

Social Networking giant Facebook has announced it will allow a “panic button” application on its social networking site after much protest from it’s owners.

The button, aimed at children and teenagers, will report abuse to the UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) and Facebook.

Once installed, the application appears on their homepage to say that “they are in control online”.

Is this the first glimpse of the internet police?

Will this see individuals given a domain name, email address and social networking account from birth to ensure one person is only able to have one online identity?
1st July 2010
Social Media / Networking

To Tweet or not to Tweet, that is the question?

Six simple strategies on how to use Twitter effectively:

1. Shout about it.

Microblogging or Micro PR, Twitter acts as a perfect platform to let people know what you’re doing in your own business. Are you planning a news letter, launching a new product or simply letting people know how the latest team-building event went? Short posts like this help keep customers updated and show that you’re actively promoting yourself.

2. Don’t be selfish – share the knowledge.

The main ethos behind the internet is the contribution and sharing of information to the masses. So if you have some advice, let me know. This covers a variety of topics, if you just found a great way to recycle your old pens – let people know. Or if you have a handy tip on how to make products X1234 more efficient – spread the word. People will begin to see you as a source of ideas and knowledge and will begin to trust your posts.

3. Ask a question.

Everyone loves to have their own opinion, so ask them what it is. Asking questions provokes interaction, no matter what the questions. You’re showing interest in what your reader’s thoughts are, rather than just wanting to hog the spotlight.

4. Product or service launch.

Once you have established your following of Twitterers, this is the ideal place to let everyone know you’re about to launch a new product or introduce a new product. You can even offer your followers exclusive deals as an incentive.

5. Give advice.

You can use your Twitter account as a live Q and A area. This gives you the chance to flaunt your professional advice and again reassure customers you know what you’re talking about.

6. Acknowledge and Say Hello to followers.

Make your followers feel unique and valued, just by saying hello and thank you.

In Summary…

Twitter can be overcomplicated but if you stick to these simple ground rules, you should be able to avoid wasting time and provide your followers with relevant information which provides you with a platform to market your business and leverage your expertise online.

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