Why Email Marketing Rules?

I believe that Email Marketing provides massive untapped potential to reach out to prospect customers in a more private and intimate way than most social networks. However, there’s a thin line between effective email marketing and spam marketing.

Email is the ‘tried-and-tested’ technique of online marketing and it will be difficult for any social network (be it Facebook or twitter) to completely eliminate Email Marketing.

Read full article on smedio.com here

Optimizing Images for SEO

Here are some easy ways to use the images you place on your web site for SEO (search engine optimiszation) purposes:

1. Use the Right Name

Just because your camera automatically names an image “DC00459.jpg” doesn’t mean this is the best name. The search engines have no idea what to do with that! Optimise your photo filenames by rename the file to something distinguishable like “Nikon-D90-Camera.jpg” before uploading it to your website.

Make the image name descriptive with a few of your keywords, but don’t go overboard with a 10-word title.

2. Alt Text: Always Use the Alternative

In addition to being helpful from a usability standpoint, search engines use the alt attribute field to help determine the content of the image. If the alt field is empty, search engines don’t always know the best way to interpret the image.

Most Content Management Systems easily allow you to add and edit content when adding images. If, not speak to your web designer.

3. Title Attribute Tells All

The title is what shows up when your cursor hovers over the image. Fill in the information for the title just as you would the alt attribute.

4. Keep Your Keywords Close

It seems obvious that you’d want to use your keywords in your text, but some people forget, thinking it’s enough to mention them in the title and/or the attributes above. If your blog post is about how to take landscape photos with a Nikon camera, then you should mention that phrase several times in the text of your page, and illustrate the page with a photo of a Nikon camers. The file name of the photo, as well as the alt and title attributes, should all support that keyword phrase.

SEO is mostly common sense. Think about what people would type into Google to lead them to your pages. Then use that phrase wherever you can — without overdoing it.

5. Compress Your Images

Compressing your images to the smallest possible size will decrease your page load time. Search engines (especially Google) emphasise a lot on how fast a page will load. Don’t compress them too much though – it’s a compromise between file size and download speed.

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As we move through the days and months ahead, it’s likely that in short time we’ll find ourselves talking about new design developments that haven’t rolled across our lips or screens yet.

We asked some of the leading web and user experience designers in the field for their predictions about what we might expect to see in the web design world in 2012.

Joining us are: Adelle Charles, Whitney Hess, Lis Hubert, Randy J. Hunt, Franz Jeitz, Michael Martin, Eric A. Meyer, Sarah B. Nelson, Jason Pamental, Jon Phillips, Dan Rose, Jared Spool, Nick Walsh, Tim Wright and Jeffrey Zeldman.

After you’ve had a chance to read their prognostications, please take a moment and tell us yours, too.

  Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and well-designed 2012!

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You can use YouTube to connect to your customers like never before. Show your expertise, share knowledge, market and advertise your products, and even attract new customers all through your YouTube videos. The benefits of YouTube are far-reaching, as it can allow you to connect with potentially millions of customers.

Here are the many ways in which you can use YouTube for business, and there are certainly many benefits of YouTube for a number of businesses that offer any type of products or services:

• You can upload presentations and slides from presentations to provide the information to those individuals who were not able to attend.
• You can use YouTube by directing clients to video clips that show your expertise or tips on how to use your products and/or services. Instead of attempting to explain how a product or service works, simply direct them to your YouTube video for the ultimate in convenience and practicality.
• You can record and upload a meeting that can be viewed by other employees and investors in various locations, at their own leisure.
• You can upload customer testimonials to share with other potential customers.
• You can make and upload a unique video that showcases your business and the services that you provide.
• You can upload a personal message to give your business credibility with customers.
• You can use YouTube for business by making and uploading “how to” videos that will help your customers better use your products or services.
• You can use YouTube for business by recording and uploading a job that your business has been working on. You can post several videos as the work progresses so customers can see how the process works.
• You can show your services and products to potential customers so that they can see how they work and function before they purchase them.
• Many consumers in today’s market want to first see how the product or service will work, so this can prevent many of the questions and concerns posed by your customers.
• You can solve common problems and answer common questions by making and uploading videos, and then directing your customers to them, as needed.

Using YouTube can not only expose your business to millions of users, but can also improve inner communications within your organisation, strengthen relationships with clients, and ultimately grow your bottom line.

Internet Marketing is not difficult but it can be a minefield of jargon, buzz words and unnecessary cost.   It’s no longer good enough to just have a decent website – your website needs to be structured to take on the competition and to rank well in the Search Engines.  But your website also needs to give your audience what they are expecting from an online experience – and you will find that your online audience is increasingly web savvy and more demanding. 

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is one of the keystones of internet marketing and is a phrase that encompasses many different aspects of making your website work harder for your business as a part of a wider Marketing Strategy.

The techniques employed in an SEO strategy will make your website rank higher in search engine results pages.  Higher ranks (preferably on page one of Google and the other search engines) will lead to a greater chance that you will get a click from customers looking for your services.  

Because the internet operates on an international platform, SEO if left unchecked, can leave brands finding themselves suddenly operating in circles which they are unaccustomed to.  For instance, on a national or international scale, when they have been used to controlling their message on a much more local level.  And so, alongside SEO there should also be an element of website traffic analysis to help with managing unexpected outcomes of a brand’s online presence as well as responding to those that are expected.

SEO, along with Social Media, Website Design, Content Development, Content Management, Web Analytics, e-commerce and eCRM systems are all elements that can be included in an Internet Marketing Strategy. By integrating online and offline marketing techniques, dramatic changes to the performance of your brand can be achieved. 

Knowing what should be included is the trickier part.  Whether we like it or not, the power of the Internet is here to stay.  Enlisting the help of a proven Online Marketer to help integrate your online plans with your traditional marketing plan is no longer an added extra but a necessity.

This article was contributed by Deborah Porter, Essential New Media, Derby based SEO and Marketing Company.

You can see some of these striking commonalities in Ludwig Gatzke’s compilation of nearly 400 Web 2.0 logos. Read on for a breakdown of the fonts used in a few of our favorite brands.

View the full article here

The brain deals with billions if not trillions of bits of incoming information each second. Signals come from the 30,000 auditory pathways in your ears and 6 million cones in your eyes. The millions of nerves in your skin tell you how well your shoes fit or how comfortable your chair is. Ten thousand taste buds join the nerve endings in your nose to send what we hope are signals that your brain finds appealing. Whatever your measure, the brain processes massive amounts of data each second.

Random Numbers and Your Brain

Its capabilities all seem quite impressive until you try this simple test. Look at this number for 5 seconds; then look away and try to repeat it:

643792813562

Most people’s brains stumble over recalling 12 random numbers. On average we can hold 7 (plus or minus 2) random bits of data in memory at one time. How can our remarkable brain manage millions of data bits yet not be able to hold twelve random numbers in memory?

Now, try this second test. Look at this number for 5 seconds, then look away and try to repeat it:

121212121212

No doubt, you can recall these twelve digits perfectly. Keep in mind that while you took this quiz, your brain continued to handle the incoming mountain of sensory information. Why are we designed to remember patterns well, but not random information? And how does that affect your web business?

To read the full article by usability expert Todd Follansbee, Click Here

In alt as a tooltip, Anne van Kesteren points to a document on the Channel9 Wiki site that contains feedback about Internet Explorer Programming Bugs. The alt attribute (yes, It’s alt attribute, not alt tag) and how it is displayed by Internet Explorer is discussed in the “Browser Behavior” section. Several people point out that Internet Explorer is wrong in displaying alternative text as a tooltip while also displaying the image.

They are all correct. Unfortunately, judging by the response from one of the IE developers it seems Internet Explorer will continue to display alternative text as a tooltip.

Read the Full Article Here

Sometimes reading SEO tips and tricks can cause more harm than good. Following bad advice can be dangerous and can potentially get your website blacklisted by search engines.

Google’s algorithm for determining how to rank websites in their search results may be a secret, but the fundamental concept behind it is not. Google wants to provide quality content that matches what users are searching for. The best way to optimize your website for search engines is to focus on building the best website possible for your  visitors. If you are able to accomplish this, your website will already be optimized for search engines!