Archive for the 'Blogroll' Category

If you are discussing online advertising with an ad agency at the moment and their plans don’t include any seeding of your collateral on social networks, virals and blogs, walk away.

In fact, I’d go one step further and say, if they’re activity is less that 70% seeding, 30% bought advertising, walk away.

I’ve said it before, I will say it again - online advertising is dead money. If you want to spend your money, give your advertising spend to a charity and PR what you have done in the press. You’ll get better return on investment than with banner advertising.

Okay, there are always scenarios and executions that break the mould but my thinking still holds true in 99.9% of cases.

Get away from thinking online advertising is about traditional media buying. Users make media work hard online and therefore your advertising must either work harder OR work in synergy with the user.

Send time working out where your audience go and participate with the rest of world be it through forums, blogs, social networking sites. Seed your brand in with them by adding value or buying on their discussions.

Tropicana Smoothies have just done this very well with their new advert featuring Nina wall singing “Catch a failing star.” They found out where in the web it was being discussed and then got involved with the discussion adding more comprehensive information to the discussion and link to their site where the advert and track were available to listen to.

Don’t force your brand unless you can genuinely assist. If you’re a building firm, find out the best building forums and post advice. A hairdresser? Go to fashion sites and throw in your opinion.

The key rule is if you give something to users, make it clear who the ‘titbit’ came from and, even better, include a link back to your site or micro site.

Online advertising can work but just needs to approached differently to the lazy banner ad that invisibly grace most commercial sites you visit.

I am sitting on a train speeding towards London. I am going to London for a one hour meeting.

It has taken me 30 mins to drive, park and get my ticket from the station. It will take me 90 minutes to get into Waterloo. It will taken me 25 minutes to get from Waterloo to where my meeting in.

I’ll then have my meeting. I’ll then spend another 25 minutes heading back to Waterloo, 90 minutes back to Salisbury, 20 mins back to the office.

So for a 1 hour meeting, I will have spent 280 minutes getting to and from it.

You don’t need to be a genius to think this is not the best use of time. Inefficient? Incredulous!

And we haven’t even considered the carbon-footprint of this meeting.

But we do it, everyday and we shout about how little time there is in a day and how we need to cut back on emissions.

Web conferencing has to be the answer. Web conferencing took a bit of a bashing when first launch fifteen years ago. The infrastructure just wasn’t in place to make it viable. Limited locations with the relevant facilities. Bandwidth issues and delays.

However, with broadband and super-fast next generation broadband, as well as mass market web conferencing facilities being available quickly and for free, such as with Skype, web conferencing is here and happening. enotions runs its entire organisation by web conference and instant messaging using Skype.

All that’s required is companies to embrace this technology and for employers to better educate their employees as to how to effective plan and prepare for web conferencing.

Web conferencing isn’t the answer for all meeting needs. Sometimes you have to look the user in the physical eye, not just the digital one, but for the vast majority of meetings, it’s the most efficient communication tool for businesses and the world.

Here’s my stop. I better get off.

We frequently recommend our clients to write blogs on their sites. They are a fantastic way to encourage visits and improve Search Engine Optimisation.

But what makes for a good blog? Here are some pointers for you.

1. Be opinionated
Nothing is worse than a blog that sits on the fence. People like to read blogs that tell it like it is. Stick out your chin, crack your knuckles and write with attitude. People will like it, even if they don’t agree with you.

2. Write every single day
Keep your blog fresh and relevant and your audience coming back frequently by adding to your blog every day. This might be as little as a single paragraph but get into the habit of writing a little every single day.

3. Keep it short
Say as much as you can in the least amount of words. People are busy, especially when they are online. Hit people with your facts from the start and keep them coming. Bish Bash bosh.

4. Keep it snappy
Write as if you’re writing for a gossip magazine. Make sure you use a headline that says exactly what the blog is about and consider a summary directly below this that further elaborates if need be.

5. We all love lists
Lists make content easily digestible. Avoid long paragraphs.

6. One point per paragraph
People don’t read on line. They skim read. They read a paragraph, then drop down to the next paragraph, read a few words and if nothing catches their attention then drop down to the next paragraph. Write paragraphs short and with one point per paragraph so if people do jump, they don’t miss anything. Also consider sub titles to help divide up the article.

7. Find your style and keep to it
People who frequent your site will get to know and hopefully love your style. Find a style that works for you and your business/service/site and stick to it.

8. Edit your post
Before you hit the submit button, re-read your post and check for spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Be tough. Cut out the stuff that you don’t need.

“Here you go sir, buy yourself some clothes. Get yourself a hair cut.”

“No, kind sir, you misunderstand. I’m not homeless, I just work from home.”

A scene from everyday life. Well, on the days when I force myself from the safe haven that is my house, at least. I’m just kidding of course, I never leave the house.

That’s the fantastical factor in working from home. I can be who I want to be. Suit and tie, or
socks and pants. Today I’m working in a business environment in my pyjama bottoms, how
cool is that!? And tomorrow I could be coding a standards compliant web site for a multi-
million dollar organisation whilst wearing my underpants over my trousers.

And this is my point; you don’t need to wear a posh suit, or shave off your evermore gingery
beard, or have kempt thoroughly combed and washed hair, or even deodorise regularly to
work effectively. While these things are important to your general welfare and may have an
impact on your relationship with your partner, the important thing when working remotely is to have a Superman style attitude, to match the pants.

Honesty and trust between worker and employer is so important. You have to have the right
attitude. Remote workers could hide behind the “online” status and actually be downstairs
painting their toenails. That’s an example, nothing to do with me. You wouldn’t find Clark
Kent sneaking off early under such an obvious guise! Well, yes you would, but nobody ever
notices, and it’s for a good cause, so let’s forgive him.

In a world of judgement and categorising of people into geeks and “cool cats” (use of that
term puts me in the former group), working remotely as a web developer is actually very cool.

Working from home doesn’t mean you’re comparable to a hermit crab. Don’t feel sorry for me for supposedly hunching over my dancing “typist fingers*” in my cellar of stale air, dripping pipes and with only a computer screen for light. I have the earth’s natural light beaming into my office. There are no drip drop sounds unless my ill-trained puppy is in the room. I have fresh air, relatively - when I remember to pop the extractor fan on “post effort”.

What’s more, my morning commute is a merry skip and a hop along the hallway, and it’s
free, not a smelly trip and start-stop along London’s tubes for a fee! I feel a song coming on!

And so what, I took over an hour at lunch watching Neighbours and Diagnosis Murder. Pah!
I’ll just work “late” until six, I’ll be home by 6:01. And if we need to force our noses to the
grindstone for an upcoming deadline, we can start an hour or so earlier while all the
commuters are smelling each other’s farts on a packed train.

Busy, off-putting murmurings from your co-workers? Are the office girls catching your eye
every five minutes, squawking away on the phone? No thank you! I can work with much
more delightful twittering birds in the garden in the summer, in the fresh air and with the bees conjuring relaxing hum.

And yet, aside from the un-smelly commuting and the pants on the outside of your trousers
lies a downside to working from home, and this is the lack of real human interaction. I’ve often danced in front of the mirror, and would have liked to have shared these moments with
the team. I’ve yet to fully embrace the web cam with the enotions members, which could
prove detrimental when seeing your morning-state colleagues. There is a state of healthy
banter in our online boardroom however that keeps workers amused. I say amused, I’m not
speaking on behalf of those on the other end of my jokes.

However, overall, working in the familiar settings of your own abode is more flexible, less
stressful, not as distracting as a busy office and more comfortable, which in my opinion all
result in greater efficiency and accuracy in your work. You just need to make sure you see
some real humans once in a while.

Now I really must take off these tights, after four days it’s all getting a bit uncomfortable…

* “Typist fingers” is in the dictionary as “a common ailment in geeks”, and is increasingly as abundant as the nose bleed throughout the world of coders.

Jamie is one of enotions’ top web developers

I’m sure there’s joke in there somewhere about finding the right chair to stand on, tracking time to change the bulb, testing the bulb and then making sure everyone is happy afterwards.

Sadly, I am all out of humour at the moment.

We need project managers, like they are going out of fashion, and we need them quick. We’ve got tons of work coming in but can we find any? Not of the right calibre.

We’ve never compromised on the quality of personnel. Maybe that’s why the team is full to the gills with projects and working hours that really aren’t conducive to a long life. Where have all the Project Managers gone?!

A good project manager, in my book, is like a hospital matron of old. Someone who’ll step on your toes when you step out of line but pick up you when you fall on your ass. Maybe that’s why we can’t find them. Maybe they went out in the 1980s.

In hindsight, maybe this blog entry should have been titled, “How many good project managers exist today and where can they be found?” but bulbs are blowing out all across enotions and we could do with a hand replacing them.

Account Manager
Tired of the London commute? We are looking for an inspirational Account Manager to drive our big accounts. Strategic online brand/campaign experience, experience of web development and/or design, latest web innovation and key client handling are essential along with new business acumen and financial budget management skills.

You will have a digital media background (you will currently be working for a web development company) and be able to confidently take the lead in terms of campaign delivery across a number of big name brands. Being able to inspire with integrity and motivate your clients and team will come naturally as will the desire to do the very best for your clients. You will be able to scope campaigns and write specifications with polish and clarity. You will be very computer literate, a heavy web/internet user and motivated by the opportunities that Web 2.0 technologies offer. A background in FMCG would be useful but not essential. Attractive salary based on experience.

If you’re interested, send your CV and accompanying email to workwithus@enotions.co.uk

Web Project Manager
The project manager will monitor each project to ensure scope, schedule, cost, and objectives are proactively managed to exceed customer satisfaction and exceed agency business objectives within the remotely based team.

You will have experience of issue tracking systems, such as JIRA, Bugzilla or similar. You will be highly computer and web literate (understanding concepts behind HTML, CSS, accessibility etc.) You will be able to quickly interpret specifications for work, have a natural understanding of version/release management and have excellent inter-personal skills to work with clients to confirm project requirements and collate content. Web testing experience (manual and automated) would be an advantage.

This is a role for a full time contractor, paid on an hourly basis, with future permanent employment for the right candidate. Please send your CV and covering email including desired hourly rate to workwithus@enotions.co.uk