This story in the local paper is proving that website design in Leeds, digital agencies and SEO is beating the credit crunch as they continue to grow and see profits, even during troubling economic periods.
A digital agecy in Harrogate has found a flaw in the internet that could be costing online retailers millions if it ever became widely known. When you buy something on the internet, 9 times out of 10 you are taken to a virtual shopping basket. BUT, did you know that by changing the quantity to -1 instead of 1, you could end up getting the products for free!
There are ways to solve this, but it is something eccomerce stores should think about and resolve quickly unless they want to be giving their products away for free!
For the full story visit www.9xb.com or click here.
Well not teenagers, that’s for sure.
Twitter is defying the early-adoption model that claims teenagers and college student are the first to start using new websites and social networking tools. This was after all the case with Facebook, MySpace and Bebo. However a recent survey of the new social phenomenon has found that teenagers are way behind the tweet times compared to their older, traditionally more technologically challenged internet users. Only 11% of Twitter’s users are between the age of 12 and 17 inclusive. I know that I certainly heard about Twitter from an older friend of mine (not that I am a teenager). But what are the reasons behind this uncommon demographic trend?
The truth is that social networking has been taken over by the oldies! And by that I mean anyone over the age of 18. Although children and teenagers were the main demographic behind the growth of social networks, their user-ship has been drastically over taken. Now only 14% of MySpace’s users are teenagers, whilst Facebook holds an even smaller percentage at just 9%. And the amount that older people use social networking is on the increase. In 2008, the use of social networking sites by people aged between 35 and 54 grew 60%, a massive jump in numbers. But why is this trend so specific with Twitter?
There are several reasons why teenagers prefer to use Facebook or MySpace over Twitter. We can also see reluctance among teenagers to move towards any type of social networking away from text messaging as the primary forum through which they instantly communicate with their friends. From my research I can see four main reasons why Twitter has not become as popular with teenagers as it has with adults.
1. No Need to Tweet; As mentioned above, teenagers are avid users of Facebook and they use text messaging as their primary method of communication. Texting lets teenagers share instant news/thoughts/feelings whilst Facebook allows teenagers to have more fun and interaction with their friends. There is no room in their communication needs to use Twitter.
2. This is because the reasons why teenagers use social networking sites are different to adults’ motivations. Teenagers socialise to keep in touch with and make new friends. They form an identity through social media based on their profiles, likes and dislikes, favourite music, the quizzes they take and more. Adults are not so interested in this and whilst Twitter was intended to be a way for people to stay in touch with their acquaintances, it has become a forum for sharing ideas, asking questions and marketing products/people to the wider world. 
3. There is a very simple factor in the low numbers of teenagers using Twitter, and it comes down to money. One of the most popular and easy ways for Twitter users to update their profile and add Tweets is by using a ‘Smartphone’ like the apple i-phone or a BlackBerry. Whilst most teenagers in the western world own or have access to a mobile phone, the majority of them do not have the capacity to navigate social networking sites. If they do they can be limited by the amount of money they are prepared to spend surfing the internet on their mobile.
4. Finally, the public arena that Twitter users find themselves in is a turn off for many parents and safety conscious teenagers. There are two reasons why teenagers may want their activities and communication hidden from people outside their social circle. Firstly, 99% of teenagers you ask would be aghast to think that their parents knew what they were thinking or doing all the time. It’s simply too un-cool. Imagine the horrified shriek I let out when my mum added me as a friend on Facebook and then continued to comment on my status and photos, and I am 21! Secondly and much more importantly, it is vital that children and teenagers are protected against strangers when using the internet. Anyone can see everybody’s tweets on Twitter, and this may lead to some unwanted attention from potentially dangerous strangers. Teenagers as well as their parents recognise this and prefer to use Facebook where they can be surer about the identity of their friends.
twitter safety
The heavy use of Twitter by people over the age of 18 should be a warning call to new social network developers. They need to take a broad look at who uses the web and design websites around a general audience instead of focusing on teenagers alone. Video games and consoles like the Nintendo Wii has already proved how much adults enjoy technology and computing, the widening if the online market can surely only be a good thing for those in the internet business.
Now all we have to worry about is creating witty and interesting enough Tweets so that people will follow us!
Google Knol has now been available to the public since July 2008, and was intended to be a knowledge forum. Expert authors are encouraged to share their knowledge with the rest of the world, and Google wanted these ‘knols’ to be the first port of call for any Internet user needing a quick answer or wanting to learn more on a particular topic.
Whilst this is what Knol basically does, its success is somewhat less than Google had hoped for. Most people you ask will name Wikipedia as the best online encyclopaedia, and a large number have never even heard of Knol. And whilst many SEO experts have criticised Knol for been to similar to Wiki, it has been no way as effective. The first page 1 ranking Knol I came across through an organic search was just three days ago, and I am a fairly considerable Internet user. When you consider that Wikipedia results are on the first page of search results for nearly every search you do, you can see just how ineffective it has been in its first year.
However, this has not stopped theories that Google gives extra weight to Knol pages because of their affiliation with the Google core domain. Aaron Walls and the Search Engine Land blog both tested knol after it launched and found that a third of articles that had been featured on Knol’s homepage were appearing on page one of Google search results within twenty four hours of it launching. To say that the homepage had no official page rank, and the site was only a day old, these results point towards the fact that Google’s algorithm supports affiliated content.
Google is fighting against spam with Knol. Every outgoing link is a nofollow, so it will not affect search engine rankings for the sites they point to. Also, Cedric Dupont has officially said that Knol will be banned from Google if spam gets out of control. But it is still a good directory to put articles onto to increase traffic for your clients, especially if you manage to get your pages on the homepage.
Knol is making online content submission easier for speakers of languages other than English. It is already available in eight different languages; Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish. using the “Google in Your Language’, users can add articles in other languages as well. As of January 2009, there were articles in 59 languages posted on Knol. On average, people from 197 countries visit knol on a daily basis.
These figures should be making Knol a successful knowledge database but figures from 2009 show that after reaching a traffic peak in February, traffic has been continuously falling since. Whilst this is not unusual for relatively new websites, and Wikipedia did take two years to become really successful, with the power of Google behind it, Knol should be performing better than this. The main problem is that most Internet users just don’t know about it. For quick pieces of information on niche subjects, Wikipedia is still the number one forum by a long way. Ask any student what they use when they need quick answers and nine times out of ten, Wiki will be there reply.
For Knol to become as big as its rivals, more people need to know about it. The content in individual knol pages is good, and the authors are experts for the most part. But the fact that spamming is present and the search results tend to be too generalised makes the user experience slow and difficult. Improving this will go a long way to improving Knol and its reviews.
You may be pleased to learn that looking after a small dog isn’t that difficult. Although, some small dogs do have particular requirements worth noting. There are a few things that will need to be carefully considered before you proceed to buy one.
Feeding time:
Of course eating is the most obvious daily activity but the average kibble available from the grocery may be over-sized for your dog. You’ll need to be sure to buy a kibble designed to fit his smaller mouth (these are easy to find among the premium dog food brands). You ought to give the miniature canines some canned soft foods.
Containment:
It is easy for them to run around and go to the toilet outside providing the area is secure isn’t it? However, fencing used to contain a larger dog may have spaces below or in between for the smaller dog to pass through and escape. Fences also can’t provide overhead protection from large hawks, which sadly have been known to carry tiny dogs and puppies away. Thus a kennel with adequate head cover is what is warranted.
Training your dog:
While the training methodologies may be the same for large as well as tiny and are not any harder, but canine experts confirm that more often than not, the smaller counterparts are usually over-mothered. Small dogs don’t think any differently to their larger cousins and believe they are part of the pack where you are their leader but if you show signs of weakness they will start ruling you. It may seem like a minor matter but just because they are diminutive and the mess they leave might not be much, it doesn’t mean they do not need to be house trained. Dog experts also suggest you make your dog work for you, to keep him responsive to your rules. Before you reward him with a treat or with his meal for having obeyed your commands, make his sit or run or do small tricks.
Dog grooming:
Small dogs have some particular requirements when it comes to grooming you need to bear in mind. Firstly, as they do not get the same type of outdoor exercise that a larger dog does whereby their nails are trimmed automatically, tiny dogs require their nails trimmed on a more regular basTiny canines do not get the same sort of regular outdoor exercise on rough surfaces that controls their nail growth like a larger dog so they will need to be trimmed more often. Brushing his teeth twice a week is mandatory, especially if he is on soft canned foods. As is evident from the above, caring for a small dog is very much the same for any dog of any size. While each requirement may seem small and insignificant, but when you do it with earnestness, it can make a huge difference in the way you keep a dog.
As the walls of the recession close in on companies across the board – be they financial institutions or component manufacturers – are facing shrinking markets, more risk-averse customers and a lack of capital to draw on. That makes the role of effective marketing even more crucial. If marketing spend can’t be accounted for, and the ROI calculated effectively then it is unlikely to get the go-ahead from the board.
In this kind of climate, the internet is clearly the preferred format for most direct sales channels. While broadcast and print can be captured to some degree through the use of offer codes, unique telephone numbers and so on the internet is far more responsive and scientifically measurable.
A little food for thought there, if you’re looking to buy some advertising this week.
It’s been raining for about 8 months now and more rain is forecast for the next week. My house is quite old and although there’s nothing wrong with the guttering, the drains don’t cope too well under the pressure. I say ‘drains’ – there’s only one, small drain for the whole house, which may have something to do with the problem. The back yard is often awash with rainwater, washing-machine water and sink water. Not toilet water thank god or I’d have to move out.
This is the only house I’ve ever lived in where the drains can’t cope with normal use – even scabby student flats didn’t have this problem no matter what you put down them. Maybe the Victorians didn’t use much water? Did they bath once a week?
Today is Blue Monday, apparently the most depressing day of the year. We’re a long way from Christmas, we have massive debts, the weather is awful and we’ve just broken our new year’s resolutions by having a heavy weekend of drinking and chocolate. Blue Monday was in fact made up by a travel company as a marketing ploy to get us all to book a vacation in Florida. Still, there seems to be some truth in it – after all, how many of us are really over the moon to be back at work, poor, getting up in the freezing dark every morning, AND suffering with a diet/exercise regime/budget? If you could measure depression in any quantifiable manner I’m sure today wouldn’t be far from the top but that’s not to say we should let the press put a label on it and force us to take part. Blue Monday allows us to wallow in self-pity, it justifies our grumpy moods and gives us carte blanche to be objectionable…it probably goes some way toward proving we love to complain. How about this year, we all try to smile on Blue Monday, congratulate the achievement of a 2 week diet and see paying off our debts within 2 years as a good thing.
Welcome to 2009, the Year of the Ox! The year began with a loud noise – the sound of millions of people tightening their belts into an uncomfortable position. Uncomfortable, but thrifty. 2009 will be the year of the miser, the year of scrimping and saving against an impending job loss or company closure. Against rising taxes and the cost of living, against fuel shortages and bankcruptices.
I for one am going to take up free hobbies. Instead of spending £70 a month on a gym subscription, £8 on a cinema ticket and £20 eating out, I shall read, make crafty objects and walk or cycle outside where the fresh air costs nothing. It may be boring but it’ll save money.
I hope you celebrated the new year well – the last day of extravagance before dark times. If you used recyclable party supplies then all the better, you’re helping the planet too.