Blog Feed for Internet Essentials http://internetessentials.co.uk/ 2009-06-11 17:12:58 Here are some really inspiration e-mail designs that we’ve seen over the last few months. There’s no doubt that these companies are at the top of their game when it comes to marketing. If you would like Internet Essentials to produce something like this for you, contact us for more information. http://internetessentials.co.uk/blog/166/Great-examples-of-e-mail- We’ve re-designed the services page of our website to better reflect what we do. The new format makes it much easier to find the information you’re looking for and provides more detail on our services than before. View the new page on our website. http://internetessentials.co.uk/blog/165/New-services-page Would you like to offer your visitors up-to-date, useful content on your website but don’t have the time to write articles yourself? We’ve developed a solution allows you to do just that and will take just a few minutes a week to maintain! Publishing RSS In recent years, a technology called RSS (really simple syndication) has allowed businesses and individuals to publish content as “feeds” of data that are publicly available for anyone to subscribe to. For example, BBC news publishes a range of feeds for different categories including: “Politics”, “Health”, “Education”, “Business”, etc. Anyone can subscribe to one of these feeds and receive a summarised list of the latest news stories in that category with links to the complete articles. To do this yourself you’ll need an RSS reader such as Google reader. We’ve developed a web-based application that allows you to collect news stories from RSS feeds such as these and display relevant stories on your website. We can collect stories from several different sources; pre-filter them for specific keywords or phrases and present you with a list of articles that are loosely relevant to your industry. All you need to do then is log into a secure page on your website and select the most appropriate articles to be published in your own customised RSS feed. Publishers BBC news actively encourage website owners to display RSS content on their own pages as it drives traffic back to the original article. Whilst this may result in people leaving your website, they will remember that they found the information on your RSS feed and may begin visiting more regularly or even subscribe directly to your feed. Posting RSS content onto your website also improves your standing with search engines such as Google which favour websites that are updated regularly. Demonstration If you would like to try out our new application for yourself, check out the live demonstration we’ve set up on our website: http://www.internetessentials.co.uk/feed-demo If you are interested in publishing RSS feeds on your website, please contact us for more information. http://internetessentials.co.uk/blog/163/News-on-your-website,-without Internet Essentials was featured in the November/December 2008 edition of Business East Midlands magazine. Look for us on page 42 as part of the article “Creative Thinking”. The article follows the development of new creative and cultural amenities across the East Midlands and discusses the positive effects this has had on the creative industry. A number of developments have been completed throughout Leicestershire following a £20 million investment from the EMDA. The move highlights a renewed focus on cultural and artistic projects, something that has played a large part in the history of our county. The article goes on to introduce creative businesses that are showing positive growth despite the economic downturn, including Internet Essentials. The article gave us an opportunity to comment on the importance of web development as part of any businesses marketing mix. http://internetessentials.co.uk/blog/162/IE-featured-in-BEM-magazine Lead programmer Robbie Lewis joined Internet Essentials almost two years ago and has helped us develop the skills required to build some pretty sophisticated web applications. Web applications (or web apps as they are more commonly referred to) are complex pieces of software that run from within a user’s web browser. In recent years the use of these applications has soared amongst businesses as they look move their internal business systems onto the web or provide customers with additional services. Systems such as sales management software and customer relationship managers are typical examples of applications that would traditionally be developed as desktop applications or Microsoft Access databases to be run on individual machines in the office. The primary benefit of moving these applications onto the web is that they become accessible from anywhere – at home or in the office, even on your laptop or mobile phone. This development can change the way your business works! All of sudden your employees aren’t confined to using a single PC to manage their work. Here are some of the web applications that we’ve developed recently. 1st Class Hygiene Prospect Bank (Sales management software) Prospect Bank allows 1st Class Hygiene to manage their sales force on a day to day basis. It manages each salesman’s work flow, maintains up to date information on all of their individual accounts as well as providing statistical data and logging user activity for analysis by the management. White-label writing competition application for Writelink.co.uk We developed a simple web application for popular creative writting community Writelink.co.uk which allowed the site owner to quickly deploy themed competitions on the website. The system allows visitors to submit entries into a given competition for a small fee which are then published instantly. Visitors to the website can vote for their own favourites and this automatically generates a top 10 list of the most popular entries. The final winner is chosen by hand and awarded a cash prize. The system has proved very successful with the community and we have since been asked to develop a variant of the application that allows for music-based competitions where users upload MP3 files. http://internetessentials.co.uk/blog/161/Web-applications We pride ourselves on the quality of our search engine optimisation skills and employ them on all of the sites we build. Of course any company can make big sweeping statements, but recently we’ve been seeing the results of our efforts. Many companies claim to know the secrets of search engine optimisation and make fantastical claims about what they can do for your website. The reality is that search engines like Google reward websites that are built to a high standard and offer good quality content to the user. There is no big secret! Take a look at the Google webmaster guidelines for a full run down of best practises. We’ve spent a lot of time aligning ourselves with documents such as these and as a result are now seeing a considerable improvement in the ranking of our clients’ websites in search engines – particularly in projects where we have done no additional SEO work at all! Over the last couple of years we’ve started to build more and more practises into our projects as standard, including META data, sitemap generation and registration in Google local business centre. These additions have had a profound impact on how our clients’ websites perform in search engines and are in turn generating them much higher volumes of business through the web. Let us show you some examples. The following websites have had no additional SEO optimisation work what-so-ever. The Petrol Tank Company (http://www.thepetroltankcompany.com) petrol tank transport – ranked 1st in the UK http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=petrol+tank+transport petrol storage law – ranked 2nd in the UK http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=petrol+storage+law The Staff of Life (http://www.thestaffoflife.co.uk) bed and breakfast ashby-de-la-zouch – ranked 3rd in the local business listening at the top of the page (next to the map) http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=bed+and+breakfast+in+ashby-de-la-zouch bed and breakfast burton – ranked 5th in the local business listening at the top of the page (next to the map) http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=bed+and+breakfast+burton Eden Tree Care (http://www.edentreecare.com) tree surgeon coalville – ranked 1st in the local business listening at the top of the page (next to the map) http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=tree+surgeon+coalville tree surgeon ashby – ranked 2nd in the UK http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=tree+surgeon+ashby http://internetessentials.co.uk/blog/160/Making-it-onto-the-1st-page The new year has been really busy for us far. We’ve got several big projects on the go and more on the horizon. We wanted take this opportunity to give you a sneak peek at what’s in the pipeline for 2009. The Ashmoors Collection Leicester-based Ashmoors have asked us to develop a brochure website that presents their fantastic new range of headboards and furniture for the world to see. The website also allows distributors of the Ashmoors collection to log in and place orders for any of the products. Fluid Design Fluid is a point-of-sale design firm based in Loughborough with a really exciting portfolio. Even with their substantial experience in design – the company still recognises that they need a web design specialist to help them establish their presence on the internet. Many companies think that it is acceptable to develop their websites in-house using a “hobbyist” developer, friend or family member. By under valuing the expertise that professional agencies offer, these companies are missing out on the many business opportunities an effective web presence offers. http://internetessentials.co.uk/blog/159/Upcoming-projects We’re continuing to see steady demand for our services as businesses seek to enhance their on-line presence. Internet Essentials is winning new business despite the economic downturn as companies and sole traders strive to remain competitive by investing in their first website or improving their existing one. In recent months we have undertaken a number of high profile projects, including designing a new website for Style, a UK company with branches nationwide which specialises in the supply of moveable walls. Among the other businesses and organisations we have assisted recently include childcare recruitment consultancy Kids Matter, the Petrol Tank Company, Loughborough-based flooring company the IRL Group and York-based Document Logic. Formed in 2002 and based in Coalville, we offer a comprehensive range of services including logo polishing or company image tweaking, reorganising content to make web site navigation easier and copywriting and text editing. We also have a range of methods for creating on-line retailing for those businesses and individuals involved in e-commerce. Although businesses traditionally look to cut their marketing budgets in a downturn, they must not overlook the cost effectiveness of web marketing. The internet is the only medium that allows businesses to communicate with clients or potential clients in vast numbers so economically. There are many marketing tools at businesses’ disposal – and all of them should be considered. A downturn is not the time for a business to be invisible. Web design has grown up a great deal in the past few years and having a professional, easily navigable website, with the potential to reach the widest possible audience, is a vital element in the marketing mix. And as, businesses are now often judged on the quality and user-friendliness of their website, it’s an area in which many are now refusing to compromise. We are also finding that companies with existing websites are now asking us how to market their sites even harder within search engines – Google in particular. http://internetessentials.co.uk/blog/157/How-are-you-dealing-with- Every year, we like to do a little something special for our clients during the Christmas season. If you’re the sort of person that takes great pride in decking your home out in festive gear – why not take the time to give your website some attention too? Above are some examples of client websites that we’ve added a little Christmas cheer to so far. If you would like us take a look at your website, get in touch. http://internetessentials.co.uk/blog/155/Christmasify-your-website Due to the over-whelming success of our e-mail marketing software, Breeze a number of improvements have been made to the system complete with a fresh new look. Campaign Reports have undergone some serious improvement and are now beginning to offer the same level of in-depth analysis as the likes of Google Analytics. You can now also link Breeze with your Google Analytics account. This allows you to track specific visitors that have clicked links in your e-mail campaign and watch their activity as they explore your website. Editing content for your e-mail campaigns has become even easier with recent improvements to the content editor. You can now see your changes reflected instantly in the preview section of the content editor as you type in new content. We’re also pleased to announce 34 new premium templates that are available for customisation with your own company colours and logo. Click here for a full listing of new template with screenshots. For £120.00 we can take any one of these new templates and customise it to your liking. By offering a selection of pre-fabricated templates to use as a starting point – we’re hoping that customer will appreciate the huge reduction in cost when compared to a wholly custom-made template. For more information about Breeze or to sign up for a free account, visit the Breeze website. http://internetessentials.co.uk/blog/154/Improvements-to-Breeze You may have received a chain mail recently from Andy.curran@persimmonhomes.com claiming that Marks & Spencers are giving away up to £500 worth of free vouchers. The e-mail reads as follows: Marks and Spencers (M&S) free vouchers. Marks & Spencers, in conjunction with Persimmon Homes, are giving away free vouchers. Marks & Spencers are trying word-of-mouth advertising to introduce its products and the reward you receive for advertising for them is free non-refundable vouchers to be used in any M&S store. To receive your free vouchers by e-mail all you have to do is to send this email out to 8 people (for £100 of free vouchers) or 20 people (for £500 of free vouchers). Within 2 weeks you will receive an e-mail with your vouchers attached.They will contact you through your e-mail address. Please mark a copy to Andy.curran@persimmonhomes.com Just in case it hadn’t already occurred to you, this e-mail is a complete hoax and carrying out the instructions described won’t benefit you in the slightest! Believe it or not, this hoax e-mail first began circulating the web over a year ago and has only recently been making a comeback. Here’s a day-by-day summary of how many times the e-mail is forwarded worldwide. Whilst forwarding chain e-mails on to your friends might not cause any problems directly, there is one pitfall that most people don’t consider. Every time the e-mail is forwarded on, it retains not only the e-mail address of each person in the “chain”, but also every other person that has been sent a copy of the e-mail. Imagine if the e-mail was to land in the hands of spammers, it would provide them with hundreds of e-mail addresses to add to their hit lists. To put it quite simply, taking in part in chain e-mails such this could result in you and your friends receiving even more spam on a daily basis. Spam has become a real problem in recent years, accounting for up to 40% of all e-mail sent worldwide with more than 2.5 terabytes (2 and a half trillion bytes) floating around every day! Luckily, there are a number of solutions to the problem and one of the most effective of these is being developed by US based Solinus. Entitled “Mail Foundry”, this system is much more than just a simple piece of software. It comes in the form of a piece of hardware that attaches to your e-mail server. The system connects to central servers every 5 minutes and downloads a list of the latest spammers and nuisance e-mails. Mail Foundry have spend years developing an unparalleled zero false-positive system that interrogates e-mails and identifies new spam outbreaks as they happen across the world. Additionally, when a Mail Foundry user receives a spam e-mail, they can report it back to the central servers which will then add the message to the blocked list of every other Mail Foundry server world-wide. This system works incredibly well compared to other solutions. Here at Internet Essentials, we just got hold of our own Mail Foundry server and can offer this service to anyone who might be interested in trying it out, whether we provide your e-mail services or not! If you’re interested or would like to know more information, contact us and we’ll be happy to help. http://internetessentials.co.uk/blog/153/Take-back-your-inbox It’s probably not the first thing that springs to mind when you’re considering a new website, but professional photography has a massive impact on your visitor’s opinion of your business. Supermarkets and high street stores spend millions of pounds every year on point of sale marketing and if you’re a product oriented business you need to do the same, even with only a limited a marketing budget. Apple is the one of the best examples of a company that really puts its products at centre-stage. Their use of bold, simple statements compliment their jaw dropping photography, enticing you to read more whilst generous amounts of white-space prevent less important content from distracting your attention. There’s no doubt that the big players have realised the importance of photography on the web. But how does this translate to your business? What can you do to transform your website into a virtual shop window that your customers can’t wait to explore? The first thing to do is commission a professional photographer. Contrary to popular belief they don’t charge the earth and the quality of their photographs make a marked difference from anything us amateurs may produce. Couple excellent photography with unfussy, clean design and you’ll be well on your way to producing a website that’s worth visiting. In our design for the Petrol Tank Company, we’ve set the focus firmly on the product photography and made everything else of secondary importance. The more information you can communicate through your photography, the less reading your visitors will need to do to understand your product and that’s paramount on the web. Above you can see a ‘before and after’ of a product photo taken from the website, before and after we did a little photo re-touching. The original image isn’t particularly appealing as is, but with some modest re-touching to remove blemishes from the tank and the background, the image begins to exude the quality that we’re looking for. Using our preferred photographer Hilary Shedel and our in-house art direction and production skills; customers with even the most modest budgets can still benefit from a professional photography service that adds considerable value and appeal to their website. http://internetessentials.co.uk/blog/47/A-picture-paints-a-thousand Your subscribers and the law Some people just don’t want to receive your e-mails, it hurts but it’s true! Targeting people that haven’t heard of your company or aren’t interested in what you’re selling is likely to do you more harm that good and could wind you up in trouble with the courts. In December 2003 new legislation came into force which has serious repercussions for email marketing. ’The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003’ (catchy I know!) Basically states that your marketing emails must comply with the following rules: You must clearly display your company name and address on every e-mail, as well as providing an easy way for subscribers to remove themselves. If the person you are sending to hasn’t contacted you in the past, you need to ask for their permission first. For the people you have had dealings with in the past, you must offer a related product or service to the one previously offered. If you follow the above ’golden rules’ you’ll be well on your way to keeping your customers happy. Our e-mail marketing application Breeze has been designed to make legal compliance, well, a breeze. Breeze automatically manages subscribers for you and will prevent you from re-adding recipients who have un-subscribed in the past. Breeze comes with a fee email template designed by us, which we make sure contains all your legal requirements. A Breeze sign-up form can also be placed on your website to help gather new subscribers. Perfect for regular email newsletters. http://internetessentials.co.uk/blog/45/Get-the-most-out-of-e-mail Refining your content It’s well known that nobody likes to read on the web. If you want visitors to absorb your information, you’ll need to think carefully about it’s delivery. Ensure that your content is relevant to every one that receives your e-mail. You may need to hire a professional copywriter but the results can be well worth it. Don’t forget that you have hyper links! Put the in-depth information on your website and a short version in your e-mail. Remember, Breeze e-mail marketing allows you to track the links in your e-mail campaigns. Address people instead of the faceless “dear customer” cliché. Our own e-mail marketing application Breeze allows you to include personal details. Use this information in your e-mails (e.g. “Dear Joe Bloggs” or “Looking for cars in Leicester?”). http://internetessentials.co.uk/blog/44/Get-the-most-out-of-e-mail Last week we launched the new website for our e-mail marketing software Breeze, which has proven a huge success with our clients. We wanted the website to underline just how easy Breeze is to use, regardless of your technical skills. So we created this warm and inviting website. Visit the Breeze Website Now it’s easier than ever to sign up! We’ve created an account request form so that you can get the ball rolling and with no upfront costs, why not see what all the fuss is about? http://internetessentials.co.uk/blog/43/Catch-the-Breeze The screen capture above shows our old home page. Remember it? While the old design was well received we soon realised that the web traffic to our portfolio pages were not as high as expected when compared to other pages within the site. After a bit of poking around in Google Analytics (particularly the Entrance Paths and Navigation Summary ) it became clear that most users were only finding their way to portfolio pages that were clearly linked from the home page. For example, in the screen capture, Eden Tree Care and Kids Matter were both getting visits as they were clearly visible on the home page and just a click away. Other portfolio items had to be first selected in the ’carousel’ of past projects and then finally clicked to see the details. Quite simply, this was either too confusing for novice users or too fussy for the more web savvy. Our new portfolio couldn’t be simpler. The home page has a featured project that grabs the visitors attention and provides a clear navigation link to the project, while the rest of the portfolio projects are all simply listed on their own page. The lesson here shows that complicated design elements are not always better and to always take time out gathering feedback from your visitors by speaking to them and using tools such as Google Analytics to ensure your shiny new web site is performing as well as it should. http://internetessentials.co.uk/blog/38/Out-with-the-old...