Ok, so today’s blog has come from my lack of inspiration for a topic to write about and it got me thinking… how many people out there that write for a business blog have moments when they are simply struggling for inspiration?
I’m guessing a fair few, so I’ve put together some simple suggestions on how to create inspiration, when the ideas just aren’t a-flowing. Let’s kick off with current news.
Current news is a great source of inspiration for your blog posts – it’s current, therefore relevant and every industry has related news so (if you don’t already) regardless of your industry, find a selection of reliable news sources and monitor them daily – you’ll soon find the creative juices start flowing!
When it comes to current news, don’t just regurgitate a story that you read and find interesting! Read it, think about it and then form your own opinion. Not only are you adding value, you are also then positioning your brand as a thought leader – just be careful not to cross the line to become uber-controversial – it may not impact too positively on your brand, unless controversial is what you’re all about! (The new American Apparel ad that has made it to almost all marketing press today springs to mind)
So current news – read it, think about it, form an educated, well-articulated opinion, blog about it!
So let’s say, like me, today’s news just doesn’t float your blog-writing boat, what next?
Try turning to your colleagues. As immersed in your industry as you are, your colleagues are a great source of ideas for blog posts, if not for the posts themselves! Variety is the spice of life, so why not your blog too? Try enlisting a team of bloggers to contribute to your blog on different aspects of your company and industry – they may need to be coerced from time to time, but writing for a blog is something that many people find satisfying, great for their online personal brand (that’s another post in itself) and a welcome break for their everyday job roles.
Ok, so now I’ll assume that colleagues are less than co-operative / busy / out of the office… what now?
It is often difficult to come up with an idea for a post from nowhere. So let’s consider why you write your blog? To drive sales leads? To increase brand awareness? To position your business as an authority in your industry? To help others? Hopefully it is a beautifully balanced amalgamation of all four of the above, but whatever the motivation behind your blog, use that as a starting point for idea generation.
If you want to generate sales leads, consider your key search terms and use this as a basis for an article, discuss a new product line, or simply showcase a recent client success. To increase brand awareness and present your business as an authority, consider focusing (ethically, unlike Habitat’s Twitter PR disaster) on incredibly popular and of-the-minute topics related to your industry to gain maximum coverage and increased likelihood of social sharing. If you want to help others? Consider ‘top tips’, ‘how-to’ guides and general information provision.
Regardless of your motivation, ensure you pay careful consideration to your target market, tone of voice and messaging – get that wrong and your blog may miss the mark altogether!
For more blogging tips, you can check out our previous post on 5 simple tips to blogging successfully.
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
AndyMurray.com Launches
Bluhalo is delighted to announce the launch of a new website for world-class tennis player Andy Murray.
The new website, which will include a full content management system, a video section and a blog, will also allow Andy to update fans on what he’s up to anytime of day and night via a Twitter integration.
Bluhalo, who is also redesigning Jamie Murray’s website, has designed the new website to give an engaging fan experience as well as focusing on increasing website traffic and monetisation of the website.
The new website, will sit alongside a number of other high profile sporting websites from Bluhalo’s portfolio including Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Hi-Tec, Subaru World Rally Team, The Premier League, and Prodrive.
Vimal Patel, Business Development Director at Bluhalo comments; “It’s great to be working for one of the UK’s top sportsmen on a site that embraces the best of social media to truly engage the fans and enhance the user experience.”
Rob Stewart, Editor of Andymurray.com comments; “Because Andy's a busy guy, it was important that we found a way he could keep his fans up-to-date without needing to be tied to a laptop.
With so much based around his mobile phone, it's going to be dead simple for him to update the site wherever he is, and with the minimum amount of hassle."
For more on AndyMurray.com view the client case study or visit AndyMurray.com.
The new website, which will include a full content management system, a video section and a blog, will also allow Andy to update fans on what he’s up to anytime of day and night via a Twitter integration.
Bluhalo, who is also redesigning Jamie Murray’s website, has designed the new website to give an engaging fan experience as well as focusing on increasing website traffic and monetisation of the website.
The new website, will sit alongside a number of other high profile sporting websites from Bluhalo’s portfolio including Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Hi-Tec, Subaru World Rally Team, The Premier League, and Prodrive.
Vimal Patel, Business Development Director at Bluhalo comments; “It’s great to be working for one of the UK’s top sportsmen on a site that embraces the best of social media to truly engage the fans and enhance the user experience.”
Rob Stewart, Editor of Andymurray.com comments; “Because Andy's a busy guy, it was important that we found a way he could keep his fans up-to-date without needing to be tied to a laptop.
With so much based around his mobile phone, it's going to be dead simple for him to update the site wherever he is, and with the minimum amount of hassle."
For more on AndyMurray.com view the client case study or visit AndyMurray.com.
Thursday, 3 April 2008
Blog successfully - 5 simple tips
We recommend blogging for a host of reasons including its ability to engage your customers, encourage brand loyalty, stimulate two-way communications and as an informal communication channel, not to mention the commercial benefits.
Many businesses are afraid of blogging – you don’t need to be! It’s an informal communication channel and can be managed by several members of your business – it doesn’t have to be just one person. Blogs can cover a variety of topics, but best of all, you can have fun writing them! This adds a bit of personality to your business too and helps to develop that all-important relationship with your customer.
To help get you started, we’ve picked the brains of our blog team here at Bluhalo (check out the Bluhalo blog for more ideas) and we’ve come up with our top five simples tips to successful blogging.
1. Don’t be afraid
If you’re living in fear of what someone may think, of writing the wrong thing or of upsetting a client your blog is not going to make for good reading. A blog that has been vetted and altered to give off the ‘right’ image will undoubtedly have lost personality along the way. Keep it real and keep it fun. If you’re worried that certain topics are controversial then avoid them!
2. Spread the load
Chances are you don’t work alone, so make your blog a team effort. Take it in turns to write for your blog. As long as everyone knows what you’re trying to achieve with your blog, a team of writers will give it variety, make it more realistic to maintain and will add to the personality of your company. Don’t worry about differences in style, you may even find that certain writers develop a fan base!
3. Don’t rant
Despite the informal nature of blogging, your company blog is not the place to have a rant. A blog needs to be real but you still need to remember that you’re using it as a commercial marketing tool. Keep it positive, fun, relevant and of interest to your users. If you really feel a rant is necessary, give it a positive slant, communicate a structured argument and provide practical recommendations.
4. Regularity breeds familiarity
The purpose of a blog is to try to encourage repeat visits and engage your users. By ensuring you blog frequently and regularly your users know what to expect and when and will keep coming back for more. Reduce your regularity and users will soon stop coming back.
5. Simplicity is fine
Making sure you blog frequently isn’t always easy. But remember you don’t have to write a dissertation, in fact that’s probably a bad idea – who’s got the time to read it?! Keep your blog entries short, snappy and to the point. You’ll retain a dynamic nature and it’ll make it far easier to maintain.
To continue with our marathon of web tips, click on one of the article titles below:
Make social media work for you
Hot 5 design trends
Increase your website traffic
Must-have website features
Many businesses are afraid of blogging – you don’t need to be! It’s an informal communication channel and can be managed by several members of your business – it doesn’t have to be just one person. Blogs can cover a variety of topics, but best of all, you can have fun writing them! This adds a bit of personality to your business too and helps to develop that all-important relationship with your customer.
To help get you started, we’ve picked the brains of our blog team here at Bluhalo (check out the Bluhalo blog for more ideas) and we’ve come up with our top five simples tips to successful blogging.
1. Don’t be afraid
If you’re living in fear of what someone may think, of writing the wrong thing or of upsetting a client your blog is not going to make for good reading. A blog that has been vetted and altered to give off the ‘right’ image will undoubtedly have lost personality along the way. Keep it real and keep it fun. If you’re worried that certain topics are controversial then avoid them!
2. Spread the load
Chances are you don’t work alone, so make your blog a team effort. Take it in turns to write for your blog. As long as everyone knows what you’re trying to achieve with your blog, a team of writers will give it variety, make it more realistic to maintain and will add to the personality of your company. Don’t worry about differences in style, you may even find that certain writers develop a fan base!
3. Don’t rant
Despite the informal nature of blogging, your company blog is not the place to have a rant. A blog needs to be real but you still need to remember that you’re using it as a commercial marketing tool. Keep it positive, fun, relevant and of interest to your users. If you really feel a rant is necessary, give it a positive slant, communicate a structured argument and provide practical recommendations.
4. Regularity breeds familiarity
The purpose of a blog is to try to encourage repeat visits and engage your users. By ensuring you blog frequently and regularly your users know what to expect and when and will keep coming back for more. Reduce your regularity and users will soon stop coming back.
5. Simplicity is fine
Making sure you blog frequently isn’t always easy. But remember you don’t have to write a dissertation, in fact that’s probably a bad idea – who’s got the time to read it?! Keep your blog entries short, snappy and to the point. You’ll retain a dynamic nature and it’ll make it far easier to maintain.
To continue with our marathon of web tips, click on one of the article titles below:
Make social media work for you
Hot 5 design trends
Increase your website traffic
Must-have website features
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
The 6 must-have website features for 2008
1. Blog
They’re quick and easy to update, can be informal if appropriate and can develop a large user base if the right content and appropriate sharing mechanisms are used. A blog can also be a way of encouraging two-way communications, engaging the user by giving them the ability to comment on posts and providing pre-purchase research resources for consumers. All of this of course providing sound commercial benefits which may include an increase in website transactions, more enquiries or more sign-ups – it depends upon your objectives.
2. Customer reviews
Taking the communication one step further and enabling customers to review you, your products and your service can open a valuable communications channel, whilst increasing customer confidence. Don’t be scared of bad reviews, they give you the chance to react and the opportunity to improve service, prove you are a reputable company and increase customer loyalty.
3. Regularly updated content
One key factor in SEO is frequent updates to your site’s content – search engines will love you for it and this will certainly help your overall SEO strategy and natural listings. Of course, content has to be relevant, but in turn this will build your presence as an authoritative figure in your field. Don’t worry about the time it takes to write your news everyday – Bluhalo can arrange that for you!
4. RSS and Atom feeds
Allowing users of your website to subscribe to your news and blog feeds not only helps to establish you as an authority in your area of business, but also encourages repeat visits and increased brand awareness and loyalty – all contributing to increased levels of sales.
5. Functional footer
A functional footer is often seen as just another way of increasing clicks within your website. But it’s more than that. A functional footer improves usability, is simple to build, is very en vogue and provides a high density of key words to contribute to your SEO.
6. Digital planning
Digital planning is the difference between a good website and a great website! Professional analysis of your objectives, target market and competitors will give you the perfect solution for maximising your ROI and gaining a competitive edge, providing recommendations tailored to your exact requirements and budget. Everyone needs digital planning, so speak to Bluhalo about how it can help you!
To continue with our marathon of web tips, click on one of the article titles below:
Make social media work for you
Hot 5 design trends
Blog successfully
Increase your website traffic
They’re quick and easy to update, can be informal if appropriate and can develop a large user base if the right content and appropriate sharing mechanisms are used. A blog can also be a way of encouraging two-way communications, engaging the user by giving them the ability to comment on posts and providing pre-purchase research resources for consumers. All of this of course providing sound commercial benefits which may include an increase in website transactions, more enquiries or more sign-ups – it depends upon your objectives.
2. Customer reviews
Taking the communication one step further and enabling customers to review you, your products and your service can open a valuable communications channel, whilst increasing customer confidence. Don’t be scared of bad reviews, they give you the chance to react and the opportunity to improve service, prove you are a reputable company and increase customer loyalty.
3. Regularly updated content
One key factor in SEO is frequent updates to your site’s content – search engines will love you for it and this will certainly help your overall SEO strategy and natural listings. Of course, content has to be relevant, but in turn this will build your presence as an authoritative figure in your field. Don’t worry about the time it takes to write your news everyday – Bluhalo can arrange that for you!
4. RSS and Atom feeds
Allowing users of your website to subscribe to your news and blog feeds not only helps to establish you as an authority in your area of business, but also encourages repeat visits and increased brand awareness and loyalty – all contributing to increased levels of sales.
5. Functional footer
A functional footer is often seen as just another way of increasing clicks within your website. But it’s more than that. A functional footer improves usability, is simple to build, is very en vogue and provides a high density of key words to contribute to your SEO.
6. Digital planning
Digital planning is the difference between a good website and a great website! Professional analysis of your objectives, target market and competitors will give you the perfect solution for maximising your ROI and gaining a competitive edge, providing recommendations tailored to your exact requirements and budget. Everyone needs digital planning, so speak to Bluhalo about how it can help you!
To continue with our marathon of web tips, click on one of the article titles below:
Make social media work for you
Hot 5 design trends
Blog successfully
Increase your website traffic
Monday, 10 March 2008
2008 – the year of getting social online…
Getting your website found online isn’t just about PPC and SEO. Now often termed ‘traditional’ online marketing tools, they are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the wealth of digital marketing tools available.
So where do you start? Why not with one of the most talked about phenomenon in recent months – Social Media…
What is Social Media?
Social Media is the marketing term that has been given to the new breed of online websites that facilitate greater interaction with an online audience. Social Media sites allow two-way interaction between online content owners and their audience. It enables website visitors to engage, interact and contribute to content. It also enables site owners to syndicate content out to other sites and online channels, and gives them the ability to easily aggregate relevant, related content from other sources into their own sites.
What is Web 2.0?
Web 2.0 is the term given to the tools and techniques that form the core of many Social Media sites and channels. Techniques such as Blogs, Social Bookmarking, Syndication, RSS, and Aggregation are some of the popular terms that you may have heard of; however there are also many more available to you as a business.
What does this mean to you as a business?
By empowering your audience with the ability to contribute to the content on your site, you will gradually build a strong relationship with them and develop brand loyalty. The web is no longer a faceless medium. In doing this, you will become an authority in your market sector and you will build trust through personal recommendation and the informed opinions available on your site. Your employees will feel more valued through recognition of their contribution and you will build a more personal bond with your customers through better engagement on a real-time level.
How can I use Social Media?
A clearly defined Social Media strategy will identify the Social Media channels that will best engage your stakeholders, from employees and clients, to suppliers and investors.
So what can I do?
Here are a few tried and tested techniques that you can use to start embracing social media:
1. Write a blog
You’re reading this one, so that’s proof enough that they work! Blogs are a great way of informally communicating with your audience, and they cost nothing more than your time! They’ll also improve your SEO, which is always a good thing!
2. Get Digging
Add social bookmarking tools to all of your news and product pages which will allow your visitors to easily bookmark and share your content with their own networks. Sites such as Digg and del.icio.us are a good starting point.
3. YouTube
Youtube now receives more traffic than Google.com. That’s proof enough that user generated content (UGC) is fuelling the new web. Try and think of unique and novel ways that you can use YouTube to promote your products and services.
4. Twitter
Twitter is a great way of keeping tabs on your friends, colleagues and workforce. Many people don’t get it initially, but once you do, you’ll be hooked!
5. Get Networking
Sites such as LinkedIn, Plaxo and Facebook are amazing resources for getting in touch with people, generating leads, raising brand awareness and much more. They’re also becoming powerful business to business (B2B) tools, enabling companies to effortlessly communicate with their stakeholders.
So how do I know what to use?
That’s where we come in. With a wealth of digital marketing experience, we’re the right people to talk to about all of the above and more. To see what Bluhalo Evolve can do for your business online, please drop me an email: oliver@bluhalo.com
So where do you start? Why not with one of the most talked about phenomenon in recent months – Social Media…
What is Social Media?
Social Media is the marketing term that has been given to the new breed of online websites that facilitate greater interaction with an online audience. Social Media sites allow two-way interaction between online content owners and their audience. It enables website visitors to engage, interact and contribute to content. It also enables site owners to syndicate content out to other sites and online channels, and gives them the ability to easily aggregate relevant, related content from other sources into their own sites.
What is Web 2.0?
Web 2.0 is the term given to the tools and techniques that form the core of many Social Media sites and channels. Techniques such as Blogs, Social Bookmarking, Syndication, RSS, and Aggregation are some of the popular terms that you may have heard of; however there are also many more available to you as a business.
What does this mean to you as a business?
By empowering your audience with the ability to contribute to the content on your site, you will gradually build a strong relationship with them and develop brand loyalty. The web is no longer a faceless medium. In doing this, you will become an authority in your market sector and you will build trust through personal recommendation and the informed opinions available on your site. Your employees will feel more valued through recognition of their contribution and you will build a more personal bond with your customers through better engagement on a real-time level.
How can I use Social Media?
A clearly defined Social Media strategy will identify the Social Media channels that will best engage your stakeholders, from employees and clients, to suppliers and investors.
So what can I do?
Here are a few tried and tested techniques that you can use to start embracing social media:
1. Write a blog
You’re reading this one, so that’s proof enough that they work! Blogs are a great way of informally communicating with your audience, and they cost nothing more than your time! They’ll also improve your SEO, which is always a good thing!
2. Get Digging
Add social bookmarking tools to all of your news and product pages which will allow your visitors to easily bookmark and share your content with their own networks. Sites such as Digg and del.icio.us are a good starting point.
3. YouTube
Youtube now receives more traffic than Google.com. That’s proof enough that user generated content (UGC) is fuelling the new web. Try and think of unique and novel ways that you can use YouTube to promote your products and services.
4. Twitter
Twitter is a great way of keeping tabs on your friends, colleagues and workforce. Many people don’t get it initially, but once you do, you’ll be hooked!
5. Get Networking
Sites such as LinkedIn, Plaxo and Facebook are amazing resources for getting in touch with people, generating leads, raising brand awareness and much more. They’re also becoming powerful business to business (B2B) tools, enabling companies to effortlessly communicate with their stakeholders.
So how do I know what to use?
That’s where we come in. With a wealth of digital marketing experience, we’re the right people to talk to about all of the above and more. To see what Bluhalo Evolve can do for your business online, please drop me an email: oliver@bluhalo.com
Wednesday, 5 March 2008
11 tips for harnessing the power of the web
Spencer's last set of top 10 tips went down a storm…so here are 11 more top tips to end the financial year and to get you thinking...
1. Join Spencer and the presidential candidates, sign up to Twitter and blog your status on the fly - check out Hillary Clinton's Twitter.
2. Get an RSS reader for your mobile (if you haven’t already) - start with Newsgator.
3. Yahoo Pipes - it’s a powerful composition tool to aggregate, manipulate, and mashup content from the web.
4. Make a long URL short use http://www.tinyurl.com/.
5. Set-up an open id at ClaimID. Lots of social sites are moving to a single login driven by Google.
6. Make your website an authority. Build rich unique content around your business’ website and syndicate it by adding RSS and post to/share with links http://tinyurl.com/22ejr7.
7. Get a Business Social Media strategy - to communicate to your team, customers and prospects email Spencer for more info…
8. Social Networking in Plain English - thanks to Toby at Digital Parents for spotting this one!
9. Getting a social bookmark site such as del.icio.us is a great starting point, install the “add” icons on your browser!
10. Get a business blog and link it from your website try Blogger or Wordpress – better still get Bluhalo to integrate it!
11. Aggregate all your contacts and social media sites through http://www.plaxo.com/.
If you want any of this explaining in more detail or want to find out more about how Bluhalo can help your business, drop me an email or contact us online.
1. Join Spencer and the presidential candidates, sign up to Twitter and blog your status on the fly - check out Hillary Clinton's Twitter.
2. Get an RSS reader for your mobile (if you haven’t already) - start with Newsgator.
3. Yahoo Pipes - it’s a powerful composition tool to aggregate, manipulate, and mashup content from the web.
4. Make a long URL short use http://www.tinyurl.com/.
5. Set-up an open id at ClaimID. Lots of social sites are moving to a single login driven by Google.
6. Make your website an authority. Build rich unique content around your business’ website and syndicate it by adding RSS and post to/share with links http://tinyurl.com/22ejr7.
7. Get a Business Social Media strategy - to communicate to your team, customers and prospects email Spencer for more info…
8. Social Networking in Plain English - thanks to Toby at Digital Parents for spotting this one!
9. Getting a social bookmark site such as del.icio.us is a great starting point, install the “add” icons on your browser!
10. Get a business blog and link it from your website try Blogger or Wordpress – better still get Bluhalo to integrate it!
11. Aggregate all your contacts and social media sites through http://www.plaxo.com/.
If you want any of this explaining in more detail or want to find out more about how Bluhalo can help your business, drop me an email or contact us online.
Thursday, 24 January 2008
More top tens?
For those of you who read our blog regularly, you may be wondering why we have had so many top tens recently.
Well, there is a good reason for it! For starters, top tens are great for SEO - Google loves them! But that's not our only motivation. Top tens are a great way of making yourself commit to the really important things. If asked to write about your area of expertise, chances are you could write a lot, an awful lot! So, to get to what's really important, we're sticking to ten items, the top ten from each area of expertise. That way, you get to find out the best of the best from our industry expertise!
Keep checking back as there's still a few more to come plus loads more news and views from the team here at Bluhalo!
Well, there is a good reason for it! For starters, top tens are great for SEO - Google loves them! But that's not our only motivation. Top tens are a great way of making yourself commit to the really important things. If asked to write about your area of expertise, chances are you could write a lot, an awful lot! So, to get to what's really important, we're sticking to ten items, the top ten from each area of expertise. That way, you get to find out the best of the best from our industry expertise!
Keep checking back as there's still a few more to come plus loads more news and views from the team here at Bluhalo!
Monday, 7 January 2008
Spencer's top tips for website success in 2008!
2008 looks to be a challenging year, so I've put together my top 10 tips for ensuring your website's success in 2008. And it needn't be a whole new website if that's not what you want, although a new look never hurt anyone! You could just enhance your current site with a few choice features to give it that something special to set you apart from your competition.
Remember, to remain competitive on the internet DO TODAY what your competition will do tomorrow!
Can you tick all the boxes below? I can! And our new website that went live in November has already led to loads of new business enquiries!
If you don't understand any of what we're saying, then call us and we can explain, you need to know and understand what we are telling you to remain competitive online.
Make these your business New Year's resolutions!
THE LIST
1. Web 2.0 style redesign (make sure your site is fully designed in CSS)
If your website hasn’t been redesignd in 12 months, it needs an update! Internet trends have changed, business to business or business to consumer websites are all changing in design.
2. Add a tag cloud to your website search
Websites are now using tagging more and more as a way to label up content, add a tag cloud, you’ll see one on http://www.bluhalo.com/, click ‘spencer’ to see an example of how it works (all the resulting articles or products from a search can be tagged by you or your website customers!
3. Add a fat footer!
Add a fat footer to your website to increase usability, they are simple to build! They’re very en vogue and encourage click throughs around your website…
4. Add a Podcast – it's no longer a gimmick but a valuable business tool!
Bluhalo now has our very own recording studio to produce podcasts. Want customers to listen you or someone talk about your products or services? Podcasts can be played through your website as well as itunes and emailed to your customers directly to deliver regular updates.
5. GET A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY! – a WHAT?
Ensure your customers can add your content to their social bookmarking sites! Its not only good for your natural search results but also good for syndicating out your content, look at the bottom of every Bluhalo story, click the ‘share with’ button, even the BBC uses this, do you?
6. RSS and ATOM News Feeds
Is your website content available for distribution?
7. Add a blog today
Google likes websites whose content is updated regularly through news and blogs. It takes about two days for Google to update Wordpress and Blogger.com blog stories, get Bluhalo to put a blog on your website!
8. Create a show reel or video piece to bring your business alive…
Bluhalo now has access to a wide range of video services – it’s exciting, it’s cool to watch and it adds a new facet to your brand.
9. Create a first phase mobile website.
Get your content onto a mobile site, regardless of whether or not the iphone and Opera revolution will negate the need to a mobile sites in the future, there is nothing to say. This is now.
10. HTML Email Newsletters
If you do are not currently sending your customers at least one nicely designed email html a month because you don’t have the time, then let us do it for you!
Most of the above can be implemented with modest budgets… but could make a world of difference.
If you want to know more, you can speak to Spencer, Michael, Vim, David, Simon or Rob and we can point you in the right direction for your business! (You can call on 01252 70 11 11 or contact us online.)
Remember, to remain competitive on the internet DO TODAY what your competition will do tomorrow!
Can you tick all the boxes below? I can! And our new website that went live in November has already led to loads of new business enquiries!
If you don't understand any of what we're saying, then call us and we can explain, you need to know and understand what we are telling you to remain competitive online.
Make these your business New Year's resolutions!
THE LIST
1. Web 2.0 style redesign (make sure your site is fully designed in CSS)
If your website hasn’t been redesignd in 12 months, it needs an update! Internet trends have changed, business to business or business to consumer websites are all changing in design.
2. Add a tag cloud to your website search
Websites are now using tagging more and more as a way to label up content, add a tag cloud, you’ll see one on http://www.bluhalo.com/, click ‘spencer’ to see an example of how it works (all the resulting articles or products from a search can be tagged by you or your website customers!
3. Add a fat footer!
Add a fat footer to your website to increase usability, they are simple to build! They’re very en vogue and encourage click throughs around your website…
4. Add a Podcast – it's no longer a gimmick but a valuable business tool!
Bluhalo now has our very own recording studio to produce podcasts. Want customers to listen you or someone talk about your products or services? Podcasts can be played through your website as well as itunes and emailed to your customers directly to deliver regular updates.
5. GET A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY! – a WHAT?
Ensure your customers can add your content to their social bookmarking sites! Its not only good for your natural search results but also good for syndicating out your content, look at the bottom of every Bluhalo story, click the ‘share with’ button, even the BBC uses this, do you?
6. RSS and ATOM News Feeds
Is your website content available for distribution?
7. Add a blog today
Google likes websites whose content is updated regularly through news and blogs. It takes about two days for Google to update Wordpress and Blogger.com blog stories, get Bluhalo to put a blog on your website!
8. Create a show reel or video piece to bring your business alive…
Bluhalo now has access to a wide range of video services – it’s exciting, it’s cool to watch and it adds a new facet to your brand.
9. Create a first phase mobile website.
Get your content onto a mobile site, regardless of whether or not the iphone and Opera revolution will negate the need to a mobile sites in the future, there is nothing to say. This is now.
10. HTML Email Newsletters
If you do are not currently sending your customers at least one nicely designed email html a month because you don’t have the time, then let us do it for you!
Most of the above can be implemented with modest budgets… but could make a world of difference.
If you want to know more, you can speak to Spencer, Michael, Vim, David, Simon or Rob and we can point you in the right direction for your business! (You can call on 01252 70 11 11 or contact us online.)
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