Blogs

Thursday, 26 August 2010 08:08

Social Media working for Charities!

Written by Candice Winterboer
My last post outlined a few examples on how social media has worked in helping to create awareness for non-profit organizations. On my search to find a few more interesting facts on this topic I came across a slideshow which I thought I would share because it illustrates the stats involved around social networks, within the non-profit environment specifically.
Thursday, 26 August 2010 07:58

Why Social Media works wonders with NPO’s

Written by Candice Winterboer
thumb_NPO_ImageAs a Non-Profit charity or trust, especially one which is just starting out, cash (as with any new business) is hard to come by and even harder to part with when it is in the direction of something new – like Social Media. However, if you can wrap your head around the concept, even if you don't understand all the nuances which come with the territory, then you will address the issues of awareness and support which are part and parcel with the business of fundraising.
Sunday, 22 August 2010 08:00

HTML5

Written by Thom Henderson
html5What does the future of web design look like?

Well it looks to be simpler and yet more complicated than before. The future of web design is still in the design ratification stage and after the first ideas and projects began on HTML5 in 2004 we are still a very long way away from agreeing on the standards that will be used with it when the time comes. The future is great and with our extensive use of HTML combined with other programming languages we can be assured that we will be coding less and creating more. Simplify and do more with less is the technological way of progression. It's easier to work with lots of small things, instead of lots of big things. Smarter users as well are forging the way ahead to make things easier and more attractive with less code to complicate things.

HTML 5 is a new web structure blending fancy API's, CSS and Javascript. These three languages will give the singular HTML language extensive functionality for the future of web development. More adaptable ways to make graphics and text means less images and faster load times. Better optimizations, more easily understood code, better tracking and a profound user experience. We can see why it is taking so long to develop. Many of the functions are working today, but until there are some standardisations we will be forever complaining about browser compatibility. I know that is the worst part of what we do. If browser compatibility wasn't an issue, wouldn't we be using the same browser?
mobileLooking to extend your website with a mobile site? Have an existing Joomla website?

There is a simple and free solution to add this functionality to your website. Firstly, a few advantages and benefits of implementing a mobile website
  • Improved discoverability of your business
  • Advantage over competitors
  • Extended reach to new customers
  • The ability to better engage customers, 24/7
  • More users are accessing the mobile web each day
  • There are an estimated 2 billion mobile devices wordwide
oldsearch
The majority of web searches can be classified into three different types: Navigational, Informational and Transactional. When putting together a campaign it is important to plan to capture all three, harnessing these queries will bring you a wide range of visitors each with their individual merits. Let's take a look in more detail.

Navigational Web Search Queries

Navigation search queries are utilised to navigate to a specific site, searchers will enter the business, brand or, even, the domain name into the search box and merely click through to the site they're looking for. An example would be "Go Fish Internet Marketing".

In most cases it is relatively easy to rank well for these searches as the competition is fairly poor for those exact terms and search engines often get the answer right. It is important to check your rankings for these terms on an on-going basis. If your site doesn't rank well for navigational searches take a good look at your code and SEO basics. In some instances your brand or business name may be competitive, maybe you have a number of resellers or you own a franchise. In these cases you give some careful thought to the navigational keywords you want target and weigh them up for return on investment, before launching an SEO campaign.
Sunday, 01 August 2010 12:15

Google Maps and Street View

Written by Alexi Vontas
streetviewGoogle took traditional maps to a whole new level with their Google Maps and South Africa now has their dedicated site to further enhance the usability of this system. This has allowed users to search an address and use current position to direct you with step by step instructions on how to get to your chosen destination. You can choose to elaborate on tricky points or intersections on your journey and include a diagram on what each point in the journey will look like. It has made map books look almost archaic and had undoubtedly converted even the most hard-core topographic fan to online maps.
Friday, 30 July 2010 10:02

How to submit a form using jQuery and PHP

Written by Chris Jacoby
Want to submit a form without having to reload or refresh the current page you're on? jQuery can help you achieve this, and this kind of functionality is something we see more and more every day on modern websites. The first thing I wanted to learn about jQuery when I first started using it a few years back, was how to submit and retrieve information without having to reload a page.

In this tutorial I want to show you how you can submit a form using the jQuery framework. Basic PHP programming knowledge is required for the server side posting.
Monitoring a site's organic progress can be tricky, especially when the website or company has a well-known name or a client log-in portal. In these cases you'll find a large number of visitors arriving via navigational searches. A good SEO campaign will target all 3 search query types; navigational, informational and transactional, yet it is important to delineate these when reviewing the progress. (For more information on how to target the search query types read my blog entry on the topic, to be published soon). Large numbers of navigational searches can lead to some confusion when analysing your SEO campaign's success.

I often find applying a few filters to the Analytics keyword data can give you much better insight and a good understanding of your search trend movements. Take a look at this example:
Wednesday, 28 July 2010 12:06

2 Fun and Usable jQuery Social Code Snippets

Written by Chris Jacoby

2_Fun_and_Usable_jQuery_Social_Code_Snippets_1Here are2 fun things you can do to enhance your website’s social section.


#1 – jQuery YouTube Plugin

This plugin for jQuery is called jYouTube and can fetch any YouTube video’s thumbnail.

CODE

<script src="/blog/jquery.js"></script>
<script src="/blog/jyoutube.js"></script>



<script>

// Getting video screenshot by YouTube video ID

$.jYoutube('rSUfWXcNAOw');



// Returns video thumbnail by YouTube video URL

$.jYoutube('http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSUfWXcNAOw', 'small');

</script>



/CODE

Sunday, 25 July 2010 09:05

Reputation Management 101

Written by Candice Winterboer
rep1Many companies in South Africa employ what I call the 'Ostriching' strategy, which follows the theory that if you stick your head in the ground (ignore what is being said), it will just disappear after which you can carry on as if nothing has happened. Unfortunately this strategy is inherently flawed and now with the channels of communication being easy to access and even easier to spread, you want to make sure that you are informed about who is saying what about you and then take the appropriate actions to deal with it – unlike Hyundai.
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