design

Getting Noticed on the Web

Website Engagement Techniques: The Caricature Effect Marketing is all about getting noticed, getting remembered, and motivating people to action. Whether it’s a website, display ad, or video, it must first grab people’s attention, it must stop the viewer from going onto the next website, turning the magazine page, or clicking the stop button. In order to accomplish that increasingly difficult task, you must understand the Caricature Effect. The Caricature Effect The Caricature Effect simply stated says that what we notice is variation from the norm. Caricature artists exaggerate reality because that is how we visually distinguish one person from another. Human beings are preprogrammed to look for patterns and variations in those patterns, it’s how we recognize who people are, and it is a basic survival mechanism that helps us recognize danger and distinguish friend from foe. By distorting an individual’s prominent facial features the caricature artist mimics the human brain’s way of remembering who’s who. Our brains are not cameras that take pictures and file them away for future reference

See the original post here:
Getting Noticed on the Web

design

Is Domain Age a Significant Factor in Website Rankings? – A SPN Exclusive Article

The debate is over – well, at least in my mind it is. What debate am I referring to? The debate over whether or not the age of a domain plays a significant factor in website rankings. Some SEO experts say it does , while others say it doesn’t . Count me on the side of those who say it does matter. Frankly, I don’t see why there’s a debate about this at all

See original here:
Is Domain Age a Significant Factor in Website Rankings? – A SPN Exclusive Article

design

The New Part Played by Social Media in SEO

When most people start planning SEO for their website I can bet you a large proportion of them get stuck when it comes to really understanding what part social media has to play in SEO. Social media often lags further down the priority list behind SEO for a variety of reasons, mainly a lack of clarity as to what benefits it will actually bring and the fact that it’s often difficult to relate a tweet or Facebook message to a return on investment whereas with SEO, for example, website owners can more easily attribute a growth in sales to new rankings for key-phrases. However, the way that social media has evolved means that it now plays a much more important role in search engine optimization. Searches are now taking into account the reputation of websites as reflected in social media sites to determine rank. What Content do Users want to Share? A more common occurrence nowadays is the placing of social networking buttons alongside pages and various pieces of content within the website.

More here: 
The New Part Played by Social Media in SEO

design

Customizing Twitter Backgrounds

You don’t have to be handicapped to be different, ’cause everybody’s different. -Kim Peek This article is part of a group of posts focused on optimizing ROI in Twitter use. There are a great deal of Twitter users adopting a policy of consistent branding and positioning carried across from other Webspaces, e.g. Websites, eStorefronts, etc., by employing customized Twitter backgrounds. This would seem to be defined as best practice, as many marketers advise keeping the process of branding both homogenous and persistent transversely through availed channels. Customized backgrounds lend an air of professionalism to one’s Twitter account

Read more:
Customizing Twitter Backgrounds

design

YouTube gets a makeover

YouTube have rolled out their biggest-ever site facelift today, with new features including news feeds and social network sharing options. Many of the overhauled features have social element to them, in keeping with Google’s new social direction. “Our recent Channels expansion, our grants and education programs, and this design are all focused on helping you discover a broader range of entertainment on YouTube,” the company said in a blog post . “We’re always innovating and testing new stuff out to make the experience the best it can be for you.The new homepage displays a central news feed and features videos that have been uploaded to the site by users on Google+.” Large Facebook and Google+ buttons are positioned on the left hand column so users can share and see video content from YouTube on their chosen social network. “To help you get more into YouTube, we’re making it easier to find and follow great Channels when you arrive.

Read the rest here:
YouTube gets a makeover

design

How Google Panda Has Impacted SEO for Newer Businesses – A SEO-News Exclusive Article

I’m sure most SEO’s have already read several articles about how to recover from the Google Panda or Farmer updates, many of which seem to be the same generic “10 SEO Facts” everyone should know moving forward. For those who remain in the dark about the Panda updates, in short, they have been very effective at weeding out sites with crappy content as well as keyword rich domains with crappy content. I’m not going to regurgitate the same information about quality and relevancy mattering more than ever, because it always has mattered. For Google, trust and authority have always been important, only now websites are going to have a much harder time showing up in the organic search results without it. Google’s most recent update may very well have forced many SEO’s to step up their content quality and re-evaluate their practices, but how has it affected online marketing for new and small businesses with smaller budgets? Larger companies with deep pockets have remained relatively un-phased by the Panda updates. Why? Because they typically have well established authoritative sites that already generate plenty of traffic combined with a robust, well-rounded paid advertising and media placement campaign that also drives plenty of traffic. But for the little guy, well you’ve got to earn your trust and there aren’t any shortcuts anymore

See the original post: 
How Google Panda Has Impacted SEO for Newer Businesses – A SEO-News Exclusive Article

design

How To Get Your Website Working For You

So you have your brand spanking new diploma in your hand, and you are ready to hang your shingle out and open for business. But wait – you know you need a website. So at that point you might invest several hundred pounds (at least), in getting someone to create the perfect website. The colours are stunning, the graphics are amazing. Perhaps it has a nifty little flash thing going on in the header with a montage of meaningful photography. It goes back and forward between you and your designer for weeks, tweaking it till you get it just right.

Read the rest here: 
How To Get Your Website Working For You

design

How To Get Your Website Working For You

So you have your brand spanking new diploma in your hand, and you are ready to hang your shingle out and open for business. But wait – you know you need a website. So at that point you might invest several hundred pounds (at least), in getting someone to create the perfect website. The colours are stunning, the graphics are amazing. Perhaps it has a nifty little flash thing going on in the header with a montage of meaningful photography. It goes back and forward between you and your designer for weeks, tweaking it till you get it just right.

Go here to see the original:
How To Get Your Website Working For You