Eggblogg

Interesting stuff I've read lately ...

Another great video from Common Craft, this time explaining all about phishing, in plain English. Fantastic.

Meanwhile, at e-consultancy the subject of what's the best screen resolution for your website has come up. I recently had this conversation with a client after we found that the old idea of designing for 800 x 600 was out of date, and that in fact very few people are still viewing at this resolution.

Over at the Search Engine Guide, Paul Jahn ponders how Twitter can be used for customer service. Funnily enough I've noticed how companies are tracking name checks in Twitter posts. When I recently moaned about how Lastminute.com had been a pain to deal with, suddenly @lastminute was following me. They haven't offered me a free weekend in Talinn yet though.

Part of the problem of brands using Twitter is having the 'broadcast' mentality. In a guest post on Chris Brogan's blog, Keith Burtis explores the alternatives to 'blurting' on Twitter, and if you're going to self-promote how to do it in an appropriate way.

And finally .... John Taylor spotted this example of the perfect ad where context is all. Simple but great, brimming with the 'I wish I'd thought of that!' factor.

What small businesses need to insist on when getting a website

Over two thirds of small businesses are dissatisfied with the performance of their website, according to recent research as reported in the Oct/Nov FSB magazine 'Business Network'.

61% have no actual web strategy.

45% believe the primary goal of their website is to generate leads, 22% think it's brand building, but only half of them actually measure the website's performance against those goals

I suppose this all makes a change from not long ago when we were hearing that a large chunk of the SME market didn't even have a web presence. But it illustrates how far there is still to go.

When I talk to fledgling businesses about making the most of the internet, I always remind them that a website is just a tool, not an end in itself. Getting its web presence right is often a big investment for a new business. Just like everything else you spend time & money on, it makes sense to have a rationale, even if you don't want to call it anything as high-falluting as a strategy.

Not only that, but you need to have control over your own site. For example, the site owner should be able to:

1. install Google Analytics so you can measure visitor activity (NB not just 'traffic')
2. update the content yourself – it shouldn't require any special technical skills
3. optimise the site so it can be found in searches: that means being able to edit the meta tags, especially the page Titles

These are the minimum criteria that will make a site easier to measure, modify and improve over time, without additional cost down the line. Businesses should insist on them.

Speed networking pros and cons

Last night I went to the Sussex Business Scene networking event at East Grinstead and actually enjoyed myself. As someone who can find it a bit daunting to go into a room where I may not know anyone, and make conversation, I wasn't sure whether I would. But I needn't have worried - there were a number of familiar faces there, everyone was very friendly, plus we had what was for many of us our first taste of 'speed networking'.

I'd heard about speed networking before, but couldn't really see how it could be classed as networking. The idea is that you have 30 seconds to tell someone who you are and what your business does, then they do the same, then in the last 30 seconds you have a chance to ask/answer questions. The organisers told us we should say 'what we're looking for', but I certainly found the Q & A was a more natural consequence of the initial 'telling'. After that, you move onto the next person. We did that 20 times.

On the whole it was exhilarating, and there was certainly none of that feeling of time wasting that can creep up at networking events. I could see both pros and cons to it:

Pros:

• It's a great ice breaker and can take the fear out of talking to strangers. Everyone's in the same boat, a bit bemused, ready to 'give it a go'.
• We did all get to speak to more people than we might have ordinarily, especially those of us who shy away from the idea of working a room.
• Although we only had a short time with people, of the twenty I met there were at least 2 or 3 I had some synergy with in terms of business, and they were all interesting.
• With the time limit, it focuses you and you have to be concise.
• ... or put another way, no-one is able to go on at length!

Cons:

• The situation is unnatural, so it may not be easy to relax and be yourself
• Conversation and the the finding of synergies depends on a certain amount of social lubricant - chat that doesn't necessarily involve talking about business - but speed networking doesn't encourage that
• People do business with people they like and trust, and obviously that won't happen in 90 seconds

To be fair though, the facilitators did say that this was just a preliminary, and that the speed networking merely helps you identify the people who you'd like to then have a proper conversation with afterwards.

It is something I would happily do again, and although I was sceptical before I would recommend it now, especially to networking newbies.

Credit where credit's due (and paid for)

Links are the lifeblood of the internet, and as such, they have a value. So whenever I see a link from a client website to the site of the company that designed it ('Site created by...', Site designed by...'), I always hope it was paid for.

A link to the web designer is an advert. It also (if they are smaller than the client) helps their page ranking. Maybe the client was so pleased with the job, they agreed to link to the web designer's site from every page on their own site. For free. Or maybe they negotiated a discount on the price in return for the links back.

Or maybe they didn't think to question it or even notice it, and anyway, what harm can it do, a small link at the foot of every page?

There are two things to consider here. Is it right for web designers to sign their work, either in a link, in the code (another common practice), or both? And should clients bother about it?

The folks at Brightwhite clearly think it shouldn't be done. In their opinion, 'signing' a website looks dated and frankly naff.

As a copywriter, I wouldn't expect to be credited on any of the websites, brochures, articles or adverts I write. Can you imagine?

Whenever I've pointed out to my own clients that they don't have to advertise the web designer's services for free, it's amazing how often the links just quietly disappear. If you've paid good money for a website, the site is yours, and you decide the content. Credit where credit's due - but let's not take the p***.

eTips: Hop, step and jump your way through the credit crunch

In an economic downturn, some might expect to see marketing budgets cut. But money is still being spent on online marketing, which makes complete sense. Why?

Today's eTips gives three examples of what works and why in today's 'credit crunch' climate.

Read the eTips for August here ...

(Pictured: Great Britain's Phillips Idowu in the Triple Jump. Photo: PA)