Archive for the ‘Social Networking’ Category

If you are keen to drive more traffic to your website and want to increase your search engine ranking, then blogging might be for you.

We would describe a blog as – “an online journal that is regularly updated with content and built on a platform with automated syndication”. In simple terms, consider a blog to be the equivalent of an online diary or bulletin board that is very easy for web users to access.

Blogs can be hosted with blog software or can be hosted by a blog host company. The downside of a blog host company is that you will not get the benefit of SEO (search engine optimisation) for your website.

Blogs and search engine marketing marry extremely well. Search engines have historically looked for content rich websites that are updated frequently, blogs provide the perfect solution for this, provided they are updated regularly. Search engines like keyword links, which blogs can provide. Assuming of course that they are written with keywords in mind. Search engines also like unique and popular content, so it is fairly safe to assume that if your blog is topical then visitors will want to read it!

In a nutshell, active blogs can rank well in search engines, provide quality links back to your main domain, and expand your traffic and presence on the web. So the question is, what are you waiting for?

Web 2.0 content is really starting to become useful in making purchasing decisions. User feedback and customers reviews on websites can aid the website visitor in making a decision and website owners shouldn’t be afraid to allow users and visitors to add comments or post reviews on websites.

Just recently, whilst searching for a hotel in the Lake District, new Lake Windermere, I was taken on a journey across a number of websites reviewing content and ended up on www.activehotels.com. The web 2.0 content there was extremely helpful in understanding a lot more about the resort, the facilities and the hotels available there, right down to reading reviews from people of a similar demographic and their thoughts about not only the hotel itself but about the specific rooms that they stayed in.

This was followed up by a quick call to the hotel to check availability of the exact room that we were interested in. Not only did we manage to book that room but we got a significant discount off the prices on the internet!

Without doubt we will be leaving our review on the very same website in the hope that other visitors will benefit from our comments. Hotels are just one example, but web 2.0 content could be used in any industry from automotive to telecoms, any website should consider the opportunities offered by this new wave of interactive web content.

We’re sure you will have heard about, or seen, the new Hovis TV ad. It has received a great deal of media attention. The epic 122-second TV commercial is part of a new £15million campaign. The length of the cinema-style advert represents the age of the original Hovis small brown loaf, 122 years. The loaf itself is being re-introduced into stores. Incidentally, the Hovis brand is valued at a reported £380million.

Not to be outdone, Warburtons have started a new ad campaign, said to be costing in the region of £22million. Together with TV ads, press ads will roll out in Women’s press and Sunday supplements with the emphasis on ‘fibre’. A microsite has also been created with a fibre calculator amongst other things. Below is the latest TV commercial entitled, ‘welcome to the family’.

Who will be left with the crumbs?

Digital design consultancy Splendid is creating a new Facebook-style social networking site for entrepreneurs, due to go live this autumn.

Owned by Brightstation Ventures, business support website Smarta will put those wanting to start or grow a business in touch with other entrepreneurs. Dyson director Richard Needham sits on Smarta’s board.

‘A website like Linked In has a very professional edge to it, but there is room for a more inclusive business support and networking website with no gender bias,’ says design group Splendid’s managing director Paul Bishop.

Brighstation appointed Splendid to create Smarta 18 months ago without a pitch, having worked with the consultancy for the past two years on three other websites.

Bishop claims Splendid was recommended to Brighstation following the consultancy’s work on websites for former Emap-owned magazines New Woman and Heat.

Brightstation has secured funding for Smarta from Vodafone and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Splendid created a holding microsite for the venture that went live in December and can be viewed at www.smarta.com.
Article from Design Week – www.designweek.co.uk/Articles