tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-92000464088845172842024-03-05T17:49:29.933+00:00Award-winning digital & web design agencyWelcome to E-creation's news and activity.
There is always something going on over here, so please subscribe to our Twitter feed (a_design_agency) for free information & tips on using the science of marketing in your website, the latest youth communications activities, SEO trends & best practice in the multimedia development field.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-62768790649529669132013-01-18T12:48:00.003+00:002013-01-18T12:53:36.073+00:00A professional home offices delivers key business benefits - especially when it's snowing ...<b>Recently, I was lucky to become the owner of a large, detached house. An important part of deciding where to move to was the requirement for room suitable for a professional home office - though at first glance, things were not so obviously promising ...</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-xF61bIdC-dRRFd5AyjWzPKBSECAJekwJ6pQKn_dnuNHWawLGQ3IK2T_321kIpiuuRHJTAMgFA4tOrdr9pEVNT0HdT-VAcBqa7z32wjzXTh7J8T5JdxI4IWOseD61E3s2Gkzj8MSJZYo/s1600/DSCN0440.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-xF61bIdC-dRRFd5AyjWzPKBSECAJekwJ6pQKn_dnuNHWawLGQ3IK2T_321kIpiuuRHJTAMgFA4tOrdr9pEVNT0HdT-VAcBqa7z32wjzXTh7J8T5JdxI4IWOseD61E3s2Gkzj8MSJZYo/s640/DSCN0440.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Many businesses think of the home office as the 'poor man's cousin' to a leased office but for E-creation, our driver was aspirational ... the chance to make a more creative & effective working environment for the team.<br />
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In December 2012, research by Stamford University indicated that employees working from home outperformed office-based co-workers by 13% (<a href="http://www.stanford.edu/~nbloom/WFH.pdf">Working From Home</a> research paper). Over the years, E-creation has continually tuned the work environment to match the character & fluidity our team - and last year we decided to close our Wallisdown offices in favour of the 'professional home office'.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoGk7SJyS-HFRpMCwxLWDkbN8y4JMvWI4U4iMtFiiMy7D6A_-levOui_-Pkaam8rZ7d0yLATfqxe9d2ffn7r6BhU-j9NEItnqO7JbWhKcvI1RG8YaNJ3WNAJWZP5MRIgQ1AY5WV1E7kD4/s1600/DSCN0092.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoGk7SJyS-HFRpMCwxLWDkbN8y4JMvWI4U4iMtFiiMy7D6A_-levOui_-Pkaam8rZ7d0yLATfqxe9d2ffn7r6BhU-j9NEItnqO7JbWhKcvI1RG8YaNJ3WNAJWZP5MRIgQ1AY5WV1E7kD4/s640/DSCN0092.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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When setting up the new office, we had several core requirements:<br />
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<li>Desk-space for up to four people</li>
<li>Dedicated meeting area for up to two clients</li>
<li>Character to reflect a creative agency</li>
<li>Own entrance / toilet facilities</li>
<li>High speed Internet access with 100Mb connection</li>
<li>Sufficient insulation to allow music & lively 'discussion' to be had freely</li>
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After 2 weeks of hard work sanding, striping, painting, varnishing & working 'desk dynamics', we migrated the E-creation offices from serviced offices at the Enterprise Pavillion in Wallisdown to the fresh new home office in Branksome.</div>
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So, sitting here this morning watching the snow falling, I have smiled at the numerous Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIN posts about closed offices & travel issues. My 30 second morning commute, has allowed a fresh & ready arrival to be creative (though the 10 minute walk for some team members was a touch 'brisk').</div>
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Running a creative consultancy does by it's nature require an environment that fosters lateral thinking, so in addition to key press publications, our inspiration wall has fossilised fish, dinosaurs, plants and even footprints that are millions of years old.</div>
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You might be wondering what type of companies work with other companies with home offices. E-creation provides serious creative & consultancy for many the world's top companies (such as <b>IBM, 3com, RBS & London Underground</b>), with professionalism being essential. Although we work in the 'intellectual capital' age, corporate cultures often place value on 'large & physical', working with people who are part of a group (reflecting the 'Wisdom of the Crowds' ethos).</div>
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E-creation's rather 'ephemeral' service (solving problems & making businesses 'cool'), we need to ensure the most professional image, which we facilitate through technology:</div>
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<li>High speed Internet (100Mb is far faster than anything we could access in serviced offices)</li>
<li>Dedicated phone lines with outsourced reception (to filter sales calls & unwanted distractions)</li>
<li>HD projector for 'life-size' SKYPE conferences</li>
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At heart, the professional home office allows E-creation to focus on the job at hand without distraction, deploying intellectual & creative capital cost-effectively to clients. When working on projects with larger teams, SKYPE enables screen sharing from remote locations to see creative work as it is happening live (and virtual extension of workspace through HD projection from other offices).</div>
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We are investigating creating 'virtual water cooler' devices with a two-way connection over the Internet to allow random 'water cooler meetings' to occur with companies across the world, both large corporate & small home office.</div>
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E-creation is driven by cross pollination of ideas - and most great ideas occur when people from difference disciplines meet & talk, something which can be difficult in a home office ... but as usual, E-creation has come up with the solution.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-66901097154944703252012-11-12T13:21:00.002+00:002012-11-12T13:21:48.971+00:00Digital Marketing vs.True Business MarketingWhere is the market going? Whilst most businesses are focused on digital marketing elements such as Facebook social media campaign, optimising their sites for Google & ensuring that they have e-commerce & online sales capabilities, we keep seeing that successful businesses still focus on their core business marketing activities over and above digital.<br />
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Around 60% of the work that we do is with growing or startup businesses (in other words, ones that are turning over under 100k per year and are in their first year of business). Funds are limited for businesses at that stage of growth - which means that money spent on marketing has to be spent on the most cost effective areas (you'd be surprised at how often larger companies spend money on 'prestige' projects which do not deliver measurable, bottom line revenue benefits).<br />
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In 2012, we have worked with 5 companies that are in 'startup' stage and I'd like to look at a specific service we have offered to some of those business to help them grow and succeed.<br />
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<b>DirectMeditation</b><br />
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E-creation has created branding, stationary and a website for a Dutch meditation specialist with a fantastic background in air industry crisis support. Creating a new business with unique brand requirements, we worked out that P2P (person 2 person) marketing is still the most important marketing channel for this sector. As a result, E-creation focused it's efforts on the design of a highly memorable brand and business cards.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp3RAfL4Q94h2eCFJAmjzahn53g4oZ2T_tUkkIlzLnBHDzsUlzZLiRg_n42ZbuAUeWxy7pIqwzgXGze3IlO0SVjXw3WbzOu6hqvCGRZejig8PVT7UmcTtF2P7JW8y02x8FbuYRzPf0aZU/s1600/BuscardVisual.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp3RAfL4Q94h2eCFJAmjzahn53g4oZ2T_tUkkIlzLnBHDzsUlzZLiRg_n42ZbuAUeWxy7pIqwzgXGze3IlO0SVjXw3WbzOu6hqvCGRZejig8PVT7UmcTtF2P7JW8y02x8FbuYRzPf0aZU/s640/BuscardVisual.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>ChampagneAndLemonade</b><br />
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This was a business that was at its core an online business - it sells 'preloved designer clothes' using the Magento e-commerce engine. E-creation was asked to launch the website & create the most efficient 'digital marketing' engine for the site. E-creation extended Magento's functionality to directly upload items of clothing into Google's shopping cart with highly tuned product descriptions. This ensures that web users searching for very specific & limited quality designer clothes are always made aware of the fact that they can in fact purchase these very expensive items at a discount online (something that was previously controlled by the designers themselves).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOzZ3VqFBqwW-bPnsRrIs_rb4_EccO0hPTpn6XDSWWFjcKqihWmm-pMpJmLlSVgFLQ73YqZcOQxek5fG_7TrWzGn6cKZwuTTdhlBn4i30zbegqQ4HDUgEGkrMQX4L6W5vIxKOD7_6Dkug/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-11-12+at+13.12.19.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOzZ3VqFBqwW-bPnsRrIs_rb4_EccO0hPTpn6XDSWWFjcKqihWmm-pMpJmLlSVgFLQ73YqZcOQxek5fG_7TrWzGn6cKZwuTTdhlBn4i30zbegqQ4HDUgEGkrMQX4L6W5vIxKOD7_6Dkug/s640/Screen+Shot+2012-11-12+at+13.12.19.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Haygain</b><br />
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Migrating a business from a successful e-commerce platform up to the next level is never easy. With significant investment in the existing website and SEO, E-creation needed to ensure that all the previous efforts were transferred over to the new website - something we achieved using page redirects.<br />
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This involved looking at the old website, mapping the pages that were indexed by Google and creating a mapping document that sits on the server redirecting visitors who were finding the old pages in Google to the appropriate pages on the new website. This ensures that whilst Google reindexes the website, all the existing traffic from Google isn't lost, keeping the business going.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiprJVFlBqWjoNylqDJusrPCTkqrHbuLgyTUGqpBconxogJKW9yfZ4ckTxBQc6ORh8hKM67Y9zvKKVZ65sNO3CkpWxr-1rNqC6D6Iy3QtkjOKRQIDWv3Cof7ItxlfBwTlrcKgZVvAXo7UE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-11-12+at+13.16.06.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiprJVFlBqWjoNylqDJusrPCTkqrHbuLgyTUGqpBconxogJKW9yfZ4ckTxBQc6ORh8hKM67Y9zvKKVZ65sNO3CkpWxr-1rNqC6D6Iy3QtkjOKRQIDWv3Cof7ItxlfBwTlrcKgZVvAXo7UE/s640/Screen+Shot+2012-11-12+at+13.16.06.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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The important information is that E-creation spent the time thinking about the real marketing behind the businesses rather than simply suggesting the easiest route of adding Facebook pages or creating a Twitter account. Every business has unique selling points that can make or break it - and as business consultants, our job is to find and understand those elements.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-26159992407215126792012-04-13T16:15:00.001+01:002012-04-13T16:48:54.603+01:00Using Facebook Like-gates for Social Media Marketing<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was asked yesterday if E-creation does SM marketing. It took me a second to realise we were talking about social media - so after the initial confusion disappeared from my face, I said, 'of course'.</span></b><br />
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Social media should not be filled with jargon - it's actually very simple and easy to explain ... but there is one important technical term to understand. The 'like-gate' ...<br />
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The simplest explanation of a 'like-gate' within social media marketing is: '<i>a barrier requiring a Facebook visitor to "Like" a brand’s page before they can access certain content</i>'. Like-gating is a method to increase Facebook Fans more quickly than otherwise possible.<br />
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Most business are using Facebook as part of their social media marketing but often don't use it to the best effect - simply having a Facebook page is NOT enough, not anymore.<br />
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The reason Facebook and social media marketing work is because of work of mouth - just now it's easier to publish what we think on our Facebook pages. The core importance of word of mouth marketing has not changed but the delivery device has ...<br />
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<b><i>Some layout examples of Facebook social media marketing, Facebook 'like-gate' and promotional page within a Facebook page:</i></b><br />
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<b>E-creation's Facebook social media marketing campaign case study using Facebook 'like-gate' for www.champagneandlemonade.com</b></div>
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<b><i>"Win a designer handbag filled with champagne and lemonade"</i></b></div>
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Ok, so the prize concept is cool. We linked the brand name (Champagne & Lemonade) with the prize itself, maximising the impact of the campaign (the prize being a vintage designer handbag filled with a bottle of vintage champagne & high quality lemonade).</div>
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Because of certain rules the Facebook has in place regarding forcing users to 'like' a page before they are entered into a competition, functionality must be created using Facebook's Developer area or 3rd party software. However, 3rd party companies often apply their own branding to campaigns or charge a huge premium (Wildfire charge up to £3,500 for a 3 month license for a 'brandless' solution).<br />
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Our social media marketing campaigns can be delivered within 3 days for under £2,000 for a simple yet effective campaign, when we integrate 3rd party functionality. What do we deliver?</div>
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<li>A clever concept for a prize or reward that will reflect your brand values</li>
<li>Layout for the promotion page in Facebook</li>
<li>Delivery of existing network of friends and business contacts initially seed the campaign.</li>
<li>Create Facebook social ads to increase awareness amongst Facebook users.</li>
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<b>Some of the rules that Facebook has in place that you need to consider:</b><br />
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<li>You <b>cannot</b> run a competition that allows people to enter <b>just</b> by ‘liking’ the page. Or by ‘liking’ a post, status message, link, picture or video.</li>
<li>However, you <b>can</b> ask them to ‘like’ your page <b>before</b> they enter the competition via a third party application or another website (This is were Wildfire helps - but it costs ...)</li>
<li>You <b>cannot</b> run the competition directly on your Facebook page. It has to be via a third party application or another website. You can promote it via your Facebook page wall but the actual competition has to be via an application or another website (the obvious place is your website or blog).</li>
<li>You <b>cannot</b> notify your winners via Facebook at all. They must be emailed with their notification of winning or told via your website for example.</li>
<li>You <b>must</b> add a Facebook disclaimer on your competition application or wherever you are hosting your competition, if the competition is to be promoted on Facebook. The disclaimer is: "This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. You are providing your information to [disclose recipient(s) of information] and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used for [disclose any way that you plan to use the user's information]."</li>
<li>You <b>must</b> ensure that all entrants to your competition are NOT staff, sponsors or associated with in any way to Facebook.</li>
<li>You <b>cannot</b> ask people to create an account with Facebook itself in order to enter your competition.</li>
<li>You <b>can</b> collect information about your entrants (such as email address, name, location etc) if you are using an application or web form for your competition.</li>
<li>You <b>cannot</b> ask people to upload something for the competition to your Facebook page wall. This <b>has</b> to be done via a third party application or your website/blog.</li>
</ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-45012618583828865182011-10-27T08:30:00.001+01:002011-10-27T08:35:05.786+01:00Magento E-commerce Website Development<b>What is Magento?</b><br />
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Magento is an open source e-commerce platform written in PHP with a wealth of built-in functionality & extendability through plugins. Magento was purchased by eBay in 2011 to form the cornerstone of its e-commmerce offering. It is used by 100,000+ merchants ranging from micro businesses to large corporations like Nokia, Salomon, Ford, Pentel & Mothercare.<br />
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Mangeto e-commerce websites can be simple, fast & cheap ... or sophisticated, customised & expensive. As an open source platform, code can be modified to reflect each client's unique requirements. Essential Magento functionality (with plugins) includes:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Add/update/delete template content pages via CMS</li>
<li>Add/update/delete products via CMS</li>
<li>Blog/news functionality via CMS
Search functionality (search content pages / products)</li>
<li>Shopping basket (add to basket, remove, edit quantities)</li>
<li>Delivery cost calculations (e.g. free if order over £50)</li>
<li>Promo/coupon codes for shopping cart</li>
<li>On-line payment processing
Inventory management (and future proofing to connect to accountancy packages)</li>
<li>Add/save items on website & e-mail the 'wishlist' to someone else for processing</li>
<li>Track order progress through 'my account' pages</li>
<li>View website stats via Google Analytics</li>
<li>Marketing e-mail list management (via MailChimp plugin)</li>
<li>Automatic uploading of products into Google's product comparison engine</li>
<li>Facebook 'Like', Twitter comment & Google+ buttons</li>
<li>User's reviews of products</li>
<li>Cross-sell/associated products (attach related products so they are easy to add to basket)</li>
<li>Favicom (icon just in front of the www...)</li>
<li>Website visible on iOS, Android & Blackberry operating systems</li>
<li>Contact us form (separate to ordering process)</li>
</ul>
If you are looking for measurable ROI from an e-commerce website, Magento has built-in & plugins that allow you to measure:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCMzR1gnA-pq1NzsaiGwfUOuot8tcSRpBm45sDs1Vy1owyXMWsvlzndXs_9s95yN59YlRIoutefBWmXhOEHcyEXnfmrGst61diYy2ZtZen4VHtffwymix8SqKJ8t7IJdD6lTy3lqtyLGM/s1600/HomeSpec290511-2035.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCMzR1gnA-pq1NzsaiGwfUOuot8tcSRpBm45sDs1Vy1owyXMWsvlzndXs_9s95yN59YlRIoutefBWmXhOEHcyEXnfmrGst61diYy2ZtZen4VHtffwymix8SqKJ8t7IJdD6lTy3lqtyLGM/s400/HomeSpec290511-2035.png" width="272" /></a><b>Google Adwords Campaigns</b><br />
Google Analytics & Adwords can be integrated into Magento to provide ROI performance reporting on specific keyword campaigns. When combined with other ROI reporting, businesses can measure their what is their most effective investment path for an e-commerce site, whether it be using eBay, Amazon, Google Ads, SEO or e-mail marketing, in order to deploy marketing budgets most effectively.<br />
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<b>MailChimp</b><br />
MailChimp integrates into Magento's front-end (providing subscription management facilities for website visitors) and backend (providing conversion & revenue performance for e-mail marketing campaigns, enabling you to adjust & tune your e-mail marketing to maximise ROI). MailChimp continues to function as a powerful list-management / e-mail delivery platform (with minimal cost) but feeds information into Magento for additional reporting.<br />
<b><br /></b><br />
<b>eBay integration</b><br />
eBay now owns the Magento e-commerce platform 100%. eBay is the largest e-commerce marketing place on the Internet (generating $2.5 billion dollars of revenue in Q1 of 2011) and is a key 'showcase' channel for products sold online. The eBay plugin for Magento allows e-commerce retails to automate the listings/order management in eBay.<br />
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<b>Google Merchant/Shopping</b><br />
The 'Shopping Results' area of Google search is a fantastic way to push products into the top of search results. Magento's built-in support for Google Merchant automates product upload into Google's e-commerce product database for display in 'Shopping Results' and price comparison engine.<br />
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<b>Social Media</b><br />
Numerous plugins are available for Magento to enable Facebook Like, Twitter posting & Google+.
Amazon
Magento enables the creation of Amazon shops within Amazon.co.uk / .com creating an alternative distribution channel.<br />
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<b>Typical costs & timescale for Magento e-commerce website implementation (excluding design process)</b><br />
<br />
Magento has a wealth of complex functionality built in and the key cost in terms of time involved creating bespoke layouts, marketing plugins & complex configuration of products / functionality. If the client has few products (e.g. <100), then development costs are reduced since the need for elements such as cross-sells, product comparison, wish-lists, mail to a friend & complex product groupings are not required.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Consultancy, scoping & documentation with client of Magento & available plugins (2 days)</li>
<li>Setup of basic Magento website instance with basic configuration (1 day)</li>
<li>Implement of design to the Magento instance including DHTML animated elements (4 days)</li>
<li>HTMLing & integration into CMS of content pages (1 day)</li>
<li>Setup & configuration essential plugins such as MailChimp, eBay & Google Merchant (4 days)</li>
<li>Configuration / import of products via Excel document (1 day)</li>
<li>Training in how to use the CMS, catalogue, order & customer management system (1 day)</li>
<li>Testing / bug fixing of site (2 days)</li>
</ul>
This results in a typical Magento project duration between 15 and 20 days (a cost of £9,000 to £12,000).<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Examples of variation in design & functionality in Magento-based e-commerce websites:</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.shopsanctuaryt.com/">http://www.shopsanctuaryt.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.movado.com/">http://www.movado.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.harveynichols.com/">http://www.harveynichols.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.prana.com/">http://www.prana.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.gievesandhawkes.com/shop/">http://www.gievesandhawkes.com/shop/</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-53325290466512667882011-09-15T09:39:00.000+01:002011-10-27T09:40:22.417+01:00Beautiful Business Card Design in BournemouthFast doesn't need to look cheap. E-creation recently produced a business card design for a local Bournemouth business with a 4 hour design budget (£275 + VAT). Okay, it's not a fast or cheap as online business card design tools or websites BUT the results are in a different league.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDdoAGChH3eMqpMO_4VU-ptsSWDrZUMThOfjTZNWRf4V6sUQasy9_bCJ1fjazd1xwENsOOCoXN42vaiiiAXx2oMedEa8RDjIqzhl6gLAqqxGIUCCQW0-5c1uLCAS_YeM1_zjQ2PqRrAKs/s1600/BCard+Visual2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDdoAGChH3eMqpMO_4VU-ptsSWDrZUMThOfjTZNWRf4V6sUQasy9_bCJ1fjazd1xwENsOOCoXN42vaiiiAXx2oMedEa8RDjIqzhl6gLAqqxGIUCCQW0-5c1uLCAS_YeM1_zjQ2PqRrAKs/s640/BCard+Visual2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Using a spot varnish, the golden area of the business card will actually 'shine' like gold within the need for expensive foil printing and will provide a better 'feel' to the finger. This is something that online business card printing company's design tools can not deliver - a deep understanding of both design & the medium itself.<br />
<br />
So if you are serious about your business, how it looks and how people will feel about you - then give your business cards proper consideration and avoid the online business card designer trap!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-88506937968501737022011-08-03T12:38:00.004+01:002011-08-03T14:20:11.656+01:00Integrating Magento & Sage 200 to achieve eBay's X.Commerce objectives for an start-to-end e-commerce platform<b>Integrating Magento & Sage 200 to achieve eBay's X.Commerce objectives for an start-to-end e-commerce platform</b><br />
<b><br /></b><br />
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
In June 2011, eBay bought the remaining 51% stake in Magento as part of a strategy for its X.Commerce open source platform. eBay's goal is to provide a complete end-to-end service to e-merchants, bringing together local inventory data, discounts, pricing history, transactions & tools for payment with its auction platform</div>
<b><br /></b><br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://gallery.mailchimp.com/b41d5cf6db/images/computer_img28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="184" src="http://gallery.mailchimp.com/b41d5cf6db/images/computer_img28.jpg" width="320" /></a>Most SME businesses aim to become more profitable through growth but cost reduction can yield better profitability with less business growth 'stress'. Magento (a tool to increase sales) integrated with Sage 200 (a tool to manage stock levels, product information & business processes) yield business benefits throughout SME businesses. However, there has been a lack of integration tools to connect Magento & Sage 200, so E-creation has developed the Sage Magento Integration Connector 2011 (SMIC2011)...<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="20"><tbody>
<tr> <td bgcolor="#e8e8e8"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: dimgrey; font-family: inherit;">SMIC2011 provides businesses running Sage 200 with the opportunity to rapidly deploy a fully functioning e-commerce website (in as little as 6 weeks) that integrate directly with the SQL database connected to Sage 200. This provides a rapid & robust way for a Magento e-commerce website to operate with virtually realtime pricing, stock managment, sales ledger & customer account information managed through Sage 200 (and with automation of order information & accounts synced back into Sage 200). With only 2 other companies in the UK able to offering a 'connector' product, E-creation was proud to launch <a href="http://www.directtableware.com/" style="color: #336699; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;">www.directtableware.com</a>in June, a highly complex B2B e-commerce site driven by SMIC 2011 (and for the site to start achieving sales in excess of £2,000 per day within two weeks).</span></td> </tr>
</tbody> </table>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-14185234362446085852011-08-02T14:13:00.000+01:002011-08-03T15:02:18.807+01:00Smartphone App Development - how to avoid the average iPhone app loss of £16,000+<b>Smartphone App Development that makes sense ...</b><br />
<b>After the hype & 500,000 Apple apps, why does the average iOS app lose £16,000+?</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiancxMpCYAU1ikq5CGElDrs0vmrI8FxGQMOKI7dqHsfMwVFhuHwclSfT7BkVF-IG7SBOOpNWlywets7HjE-79LuYVGGCNBKMhvjZTxrjZbj_Ls7vuRKNzZ4bNb6hjgCi-l0B46o5MXRU0/s1600/Screen+Shot+2011-08-03+at+13.37.23.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiancxMpCYAU1ikq5CGElDrs0vmrI8FxGQMOKI7dqHsfMwVFhuHwclSfT7BkVF-IG7SBOOpNWlywets7HjE-79LuYVGGCNBKMhvjZTxrjZbj_Ls7vuRKNzZ4bNb6hjgCi-l0B46o5MXRU0/s200/Screen+Shot+2011-08-03+at+13.37.23.png" width="188" /></a></div>
Since Apple introduced the App Store in 2008, everyone seems to be developing iPhone applications. 500,000 iPhone apps available in Apple’s app store at the end of July 2011 with 15,000,000,000 downloads, but the underlying smartphone market is shifting:<br />
<br />
In the UK, in March 2011, the percentage of smartphones sold was:<br />
<br />
<b>Android 38%</b><br />
<b>RIM (Blackberry) 24.5%</b><br />
<b>iOS (Apple) 23%</b><br />
<b>Symbian 11.4%</b><br />
<br />
So Apple is in 3rd place in the hardware sales front ... something that isn't immediately obvious given their fantastic PR. Apple is doing very well and making big profits (apparently they had a larger pot of cash than the US government at the end of July 2011), but the profitability for developers creating iPhone apps is more questionable, especially when you consider the 30% of the selling price taken by Apple. If you are considering investing in an iPhone application, think about the following:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b>An HTML5 & CCS3 website effectively is an iPhone app (and works on the Android & Blackberry OS) without commercial control by Apple</b></li>
</ul>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRnyiM_TeJAtn4_YCZOihB2GiyHakPjTVeA49nBTBvh3O3-eonC7vRd6-lbikVzEg4C7oaN61OK1mzBuJBa6CSszRcV_45_x2IX838dPTzgtQIlg3bIMsVtPDh_d9aKBh_a8GL56mXOwc/s1600/phonegap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRnyiM_TeJAtn4_YCZOihB2GiyHakPjTVeA49nBTBvh3O3-eonC7vRd6-lbikVzEg4C7oaN61OK1mzBuJBa6CSszRcV_45_x2IX838dPTzgtQIlg3bIMsVtPDh_d9aKBh_a8GL56mXOwc/s1600/phonegap.jpg" /></a>Successful app development is about keeping development costs low. Open source technology has come to play a massively important part in web & application development (with software such as Magento reducing e-commerce development cost & timescales). Open source technology is now available for mobile platforms, making smartphone app development faster & more cost effective without any sacrifice in functionality when compared with traditional app development. PhoneGap enables developers to access the ‘clever’ smartphone functionality such as GPS, accelerometer, camera & compass using a single, simple API to interface with all the major smartphone platforms.<br />
<br />
In other words, a developer can write functionality in HTML5, CCS3 & Javascript, and using PhoneGap, create iOS, Android & Blackberry applications with all the 'cool' functionality available within the smartphone's hardware with the click of a button – reducing development costs to a 1/3 of what they used to be with a larger potential market and lower sales costs.<br />
<br />
In May 2010, the average iPhone application development cost was $35,000 (around £23,000). This cost has come down due to increased competition & smart phone platforms reducing development timescales. E-creation can now create an iPhone e-commerce application for a Magento website for less than £2,000 and a complex customized Apple/Android/RIM application for under £8,000. The maths below however indicates that creating iPhone specific applications (not that we are interested in talking ourselves out of your business) is generally unprofitable (except for Apple!)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfTWYIU_jFh9znP9gemt_WrSEFln5EMPZCyOhXdjCPveSKnJ_tNPOffTqc7Zso1ZMbJQkD6S5MaQvXoftUyDSe8qKCT3Q7RiGTz1LFY5PSH2gN0h2FF7RmkxsAW_a1sdYjxVv8KR7Do8A/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfTWYIU_jFh9znP9gemt_WrSEFln5EMPZCyOhXdjCPveSKnJ_tNPOffTqc7Zso1ZMbJQkD6S5MaQvXoftUyDSe8qKCT3Q7RiGTz1LFY5PSH2gN0h2FF7RmkxsAW_a1sdYjxVv8KR7Do8A/s1600/images.jpeg" /></a></div>
In 2010, Apple stated it’s app store achieved $1.43 billion in revenue over a two year period from the 165,000 ‘pay for’ applications in the app store. This averages to $6,100 income per app. After Apple takes its 30% selling fee of $2,600 [£1,625]), this leaves an income of just over $3,000 (£1,875) per year for the developer. Not great when the average development cost is around £23,000. So in 2011, where are we at?<br />
<br />
Apple’s press release from July 2011 can be summarized as follows:<br />
<br />
15 billion apps downloaded<br />
425,000 apps in the App store<br />
$2.5 billion paid out to developers to date<br />
63% of apps were pay for (in May) which equals 320,000 ‘pay for’ apps<br />
<br />
That means that in July 2011, if 63% of applications are paid for (the calculated average of paid for apps), the average income per app is $5,900 (£3,700) over three years … or less than $2,000 per year (£1,250) once Apple have taken their fees. So income per year per app has dropped a further £600 per year and whilst development costs are coming down, the average iPhone app is losing over £16,000! So consider carefully before jumping on the iPhone app development bandwagon and make sure you build using the right technology... <br />
<br />
For deeper maths, check out: http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2010/06/full-analysis-of-iphone-economics-its-bad-news-and-then-it-gets-worse.htmlAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-47304653846636497482011-07-01T12:18:00.000+01:002011-08-03T12:21:04.273+01:00<b>Twitter & Google's Instant Indexing</b><br />
<br />
The world of digital marketing moves incredibly fast, with a constant flow of new tools and opportunities for businesses. It was only 5 years ago that Twitter was launched and for many businesses, let alone individuals, the value of creating a Twitter account is unclear. So here is why we think Twitter has become a useful business tool …<br />
<br />
<b>Using Twitter and Blogger to instantly list your website content in Google</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoc5zrRx1GNZoq512oc4jsbODf0Qq4JFLajFTJf_Iamnr2ZUwaf96kazy40ygtHmG48Xc0dcsXWtNhP3mXJm_0jzgSFnm7rQc4dbf8_Xvqloy6xEsv0Zt6OMnDLC1U9Yi7z0xsgPycItY/s1600/twitter_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoc5zrRx1GNZoq512oc4jsbODf0Qq4JFLajFTJf_Iamnr2ZUwaf96kazy40ygtHmG48Xc0dcsXWtNhP3mXJm_0jzgSFnm7rQc4dbf8_Xvqloy6xEsv0Zt6OMnDLC1U9Yi7z0xsgPycItY/s320/twitter_logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Twitter is a 'micro blogging' website for publishing very short 'diary statements' that the public can search, see, subscribe to and republish (called 'retweeting'). In April 2011, Twitter reached 175 milion users, up from 15 million users in 2010 but still a small proportion of the 750 million active Facebook users in July 2011.<br />
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The recent updates to Google's 'real-time indexing' technology has made Twitter a powerful social media marketing tool. 'Tweets' can be instantly updated in Google search results, enabling businesses to communicate using highly time sensitive traffic to drive targeted traffic their site. Many large businesses monitor public opinion on a continual basis and if they discover negative feedback, respond swiftly using Twitter. Tweets are limited in their scope of content (given the 140 character limit per 'tweet'), so another effective route into realtime Google is Blogger. Although Blogger take slightly longer to 'show' in Google, Google's ownership of Blogger appears to contribute to 'accelerated' indexing of content (sometimes as quickly as 15 seconds!).<br />
<br />
As always, content is still king and must be focused, concise & interesting to have impact - but as a content delivery tool, Blogger is incredibly efficient at pushing content into Google rapidly. E-creation itself uses Blogger as its CMS tool for the news section of our website - with over 70% of our website traffic coming from the news section.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-37012093458914346102011-06-21T12:12:00.000+01:002011-08-03T15:02:51.870+01:00Book Review: Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers<br />
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<img align="left" alt="" border="0" height="200" hspace="10" src="https://us1.admin.mailchimp.com/_ssl/proxy.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgallery.mailchimp.com%2Fb41d5cf6db%2Fimages%2F3228917.jpg" width="134" /></div>
<br />
We are voracious book worms here at E-creation and always looking for something interesting to read (any suggestions?) Even though this book is over a year old, it is our 'must read' book for 2011:<br />
<strong>Malcolm Gladwell's 'Outliers'</strong><br />
<br />
<strong>Malcolm Gladwell scores a hit with another one of his books in our office, this time with the rather quirky 'Outliers'. Vaguely reminiscent of Freakonomics, Gladwell takes a look at people and unusual statistical 'outliers', analysing how 'destiny' drives success.</strong><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<br />
<table><tbody>
<tr> <td bgcolor="#e8e8e8" cellpadding="30">As Malcolm put it himself '<em>Did you know that there's a magic year to be born if you want to be a software entrepreneur? And another magic year to be born if you want to be really rich?</em>' when explaining his book. Sports stars have 'magic months' to be born, with a huge percentage of professional hockey and football players being born in January, February and March. This tendency can be seen across the world for professional player's birthdays for virtually all sports professions.<br />
<br />
The question for Malcolm was why? <em>Selection months.</em> Put simply, most team sports require a cohesive team and therefore select team members at a specific point in the year to give the team a full year to play together. If two 12 year olds are competing for a position in a team in a December 'selection month', a 12 year old born in January will have 11 months more experience and physical growth than the 12 year old born in December. This significant competitive advantage means that if you are born in the wrong month of the year, the chances of becoming a professional sports person are very low (unless parents 'fudge' birthdays to fit into the right age category).</td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The strapline 'the story of success' really encapsulates this book's aim of demonstrating that 'destiny' exist but it's actually a science of statistics. Malcolm explores the ecosystem that has made Bill Gates a success & why Columbian and South Korean pilots are more likely to crash; "<em>How good a pilot is, it turns out, has a lot to do with where that pilot is from—that is, the culture he or she was raised in. I was actually stunned by how strong the connection is between culture and crashes, and it's something that I would never have dreamed was true, in a million years</em>" says Malcomb Gladwell.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-84759413007666085232011-06-02T14:17:00.001+01:002011-06-02T14:18:35.513+01:00Sage Integration for Magento - Sage Magento Integration Connector launched by E-creation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjydJDpLAJ84ShepbD71FdgBXR6Me7flgZKNvWlddnqtOHvFNwvRxTzqZBUuvfFe5u0rmjEvmxpXr7NLRBUnbKgqKInfSbNIHsdyrRw91dL9eMKL8oWHTqYt0-jNjDMsS5zH3OAsrwEqpI/s1600/Sage200-Magento-Integration.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjydJDpLAJ84ShepbD71FdgBXR6Me7flgZKNvWlddnqtOHvFNwvRxTzqZBUuvfFe5u0rmjEvmxpXr7NLRBUnbKgqKInfSbNIHsdyrRw91dL9eMKL8oWHTqYt0-jNjDMsS5zH3OAsrwEqpI/s320/Sage200-Magento-Integration.png" width="320" /></a></div><b>For the past 3 months, E-creation has been working on a substantial e-commerce website build using the Magento open source e-commerce platform. The website has been created to take the client from sub £1m turnover per annum to £2m+ per annum with a complete business process & infrastructure to meet this aggressive target - all directly driven & run by the e-commerce website & business integration.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">To achieve this growth, E-creation has pushed the core capabilities of Magento, customising Magento code to accommodate the clients specific requirements, with features like:<b><br />
</b></span></b><br />
<ul><li>Quick order page</li>
<li>Mixed sub-category / product pages</li>
<li>Units of measure</li>
<li>Credit sales using account credit limits</li>
</ul><b>Sage 200 into Magento integration</b><br />
<br />
However, the key functionality enabling the client to grow so aggressively is the Sage 200 Magento integration through a custom written Sage 200 Magento connector. There are Sage 50 (a significantly simpler product when compared with Sage 200) to Magento connectors but only one Sage 200 Magento connector that E-creation could find.<br />
The <b>Zynk / Internetware Sage 200 Connector</b> provides '<i>the same functionality as Internetware Connect product including the ability to Export Customers, Products, Inventory, Price Lists, Currencies and more and the ability to Import Customers, Sales orders, Invoices, Transactions and more.</i>'<br />
<br />
After tests using the Zynk / Internetware Sage Connector, E-creation chose to write its own Sage 200 to Magento integration connector in order improve on elements of that would not perform the functions required by the client. <b>SAGE Magento Integration Connector</b> is now available through E-creation as part of Magento e-commerce website projects requiring Sage 200 integration or as part of stand alone Sage 200 integration projects at a price of £5,500 + VAT.<br />
<br />
Compared with Internetware's costs, it is exceptional value:<br />
<br />
<b>£1,200 + VAT per year license cost for Zynk <br />
£6,000 + VAT installation / integration cost</b><br />
<br />
If your business uses Sage 200 (typically a business with a turnover in excess of £1m per year), E-creation's <b>SAGE Magento Integration Connector</b> can help make your business significantly more efficient by integrating your website with your Sage accounts system.<br />
<br />
<b>SAGE Magento Integration Connector </b>benefits include:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Improved communications & BI through data updates in virtually realtime</li>
<li>Reduced costs by reduction in data rekeying & data entry mistakes</li>
<li>Easier management of product data, inventory levels, categories & price changes.</li>
<li>More sales by ensuring web customers always see best price available</li>
</ul><div>How does <b>SAGE Magento Integration Connector</b> achieve this?<br />
<br />
</div><ul><li>Web orders automatically sent directly into Sage account</li>
<li>All sales orders, customer data & transactions managed via web <u>or</u> Sage</li>
<li>Upload data from Sage accounts system & publish Magento e-commerce site</li>
<li>Management of customer specific price lists that automatically 'funnel' customers</li>
</ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-4815954328119516752011-01-22T10:55:00.000+00:002011-01-22T10:55:00.561+00:00Open source website development vs. traditional website development<b>Difference between open source website development vs. traditional website development</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIgqYRL3AC5ppOAZhQ1DvM01QNOS3eJurk00iKqnk0QnQeyuLGcur5PtyudqIlrZ843LR3wX7RuP5oouoW98RHQYm0RXxieo-LjzYRVl33xLuhgF98judRenhnhXTIVeSauLahAY86W8I/s1600/Wikipedia-logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIgqYRL3AC5ppOAZhQ1DvM01QNOS3eJurk00iKqnk0QnQeyuLGcur5PtyudqIlrZ843LR3wX7RuP5oouoW98RHQYm0RXxieo-LjzYRVl33xLuhgF98judRenhnhXTIVeSauLahAY86W8I/s200/Wikipedia-logo.png" width="200" /></a></div>In a recent proposal, E-creation was asked to explain what open source website development is in laymen's terms. Since a layman's explanation of open source website development is probably useful for other potential clients exploring the best avenue for their website development approaches, here is an extract:<br />
<br />
On a simple level, open source vs. traditional website development is similar to the difference between <b>Wikipedia vs. Encyclopedia Britannica</b>. Encyclopedia Britannica is a commercial resource written by experts, with staff & organizational costs and as a resulting, substantial cost attached to the purchase of the content. Wikipedia is a content platform, open to anyone, where information is entered / validated by the public - and offered to the public for free. Quality of the information is 'policed' by the public (effectively using 'wisdom of the crowds') and research indicates that the quality of information is generally as good (see below*).<br />
<br />
Open source code platforms allow the public to create & publish code, with quality control managed through developers rating each others code. There are thousands of open source objects or plugins available for functionality such as newsletters, Twitter feeds & shopping carts, which helps to reduce project development costs & timescales. For clients looking to develop websites, choosing between open source & traditional development, is not a question of quality of code, but rather a philosophy. Dot.net is an example of a classic development platform (with associated license costs & 'from scratch' development costs).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjle54ZwPmuhynVBdN89cleY_GwqyMA666LjfG1iWgznr54M36O5fYq4IuBWdLkfcoL9aeaWyxwz0kieE_S8mywHyYlPTviCNojoDNKR-l9kphJVVmRYHLL6gCR-XAFEo6pHMOR4Z2Izas/s1600/wordpress-integration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjle54ZwPmuhynVBdN89cleY_GwqyMA666LjfG1iWgznr54M36O5fYq4IuBWdLkfcoL9aeaWyxwz0kieE_S8mywHyYlPTviCNojoDNKR-l9kphJVVmRYHLL6gCR-XAFEo6pHMOR4Z2Izas/s200/wordpress-integration.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>During website development projects, the use of OpenSource technology (such as WordPress) provides significant time / cost benefits, as many free plug-ins are available to deliver key functionality for your website requirements. The costs involved are research, installation & customization time, rather than specification, coding & testing.<br />
<br />
As open source plug-ins are already commercially in use in other sites, their functionality is tried & tested (reducing bug fixing time at the end of the project). The challenge faced by developers coming from non-open source background is the time involved in project management / training, which can add to development costs.<br />
<br />
<i>* "For its study, Nature chose articles from both sites in a wide range of topics and sent them to what it called "relevant" field experts for peer review. The experts then compared the competing articles--one from each site on a given topic--side by side, but were not told which article came from which site. Nature got back 42 usable reviews from its field of experts.<br />
<br />
In the end, the journal found just eight serious errors, such as general misunderstandings of vital concepts, in the articles. Of those, four came from each site. They did, however, discover a series of factual errors, omissions or misleading statements. All told, Wikipedia had 162 such problems, while Britannica had 123.<br />
<br />
That averages out to 2.92 mistakes per article for Britannica and 3.86 for Wikipedia."<br />
</i><br />
<br />
<a href="http://news.cnet.com/Study-Wikipedia-as-accurate-as-Britannica/2100-1038_3-5997332.html">http://news.cnet.com/Study-Wikipedia-as-accurate-as-Britannica/2100-1038_3-5997332.html</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-56263204339857537892011-01-17T16:39:00.001+00:002011-01-18T17:29:20.321+00:00F-commerce - Facebook & Amazon WebStore Technology Explained<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>F-commerce (Facebook Commerce) is a hot topic for E-creation's online retail customers - with many client's asking about the effects of F-commerce on the e-commerce market. Given that most of our e-commerce website development is done on a bespoke basis (either customising off-the-shelf packages like Magento, WP e-commerce or our our platform), we are rarely asked to look at 'online packages', since they lack the flexibility of custom e-commerce website developments.</b> </div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5d7M135bPijkZp5EpvJ3Cn3CbV_a9zuA4Isn3ojxzsBDKpGtlQ66AO0uw2Y7Pirdo1X1i6RPPFw2MM9IqPlixDf4lYPo2Xd8AlxCWeneK0EBRaQxaTDMTfIyQfjNv56oY-gzoTuRIfzc/s1600/21uk-yy0NzL.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5d7M135bPijkZp5EpvJ3Cn3CbV_a9zuA4Isn3ojxzsBDKpGtlQ66AO0uw2Y7Pirdo1X1i6RPPFw2MM9IqPlixDf4lYPo2Xd8AlxCWeneK0EBRaQxaTDMTfIyQfjNv56oY-gzoTuRIfzc/s1600/21uk-yy0NzL.png" /></a></div>So what is F-commerce? Facebook Commerce, put simply, is an Amazon WebStore embedded into Facebook page. F-commerce is receiving lots of interest due to its low entry costs & development speed, making it possible to create a fully functioning e-commerce store, in a matter of days.<br />
<br />
Amazon Webstores are built using an online tool, provided by Amazon, enabling businesses to create e-commerce front-ends using a simple, web-based administration system. Products loaded into the webstore (either manually product by product, by CSV or XML) can then be purchased via a webstore front-end (with your unique URL), via Amazon product search OR through F-commerce pages within Facebook.<br />
<br />
From a functionality point of view, Amazon Webstores & F-commerce offer no new innovations in the way that the e-commerce website works - it's principle is to use social networking to help drive additional traffic by showing your friends your purchases. They see what you buy (either via your Facebook page or via the F-commerce store) and are influenced - but this is not different to the current 'Like' functionality that has become standard practice in e-commerce webstore.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Put simply, F-commerce is a different location for your webstore (in the same way that you might move your retail premises to a new location) with 'broadcasts' of your purchases within Facebook.</i></b><br />
<br />
So lets go back to the basics of e-commerce retailing and the influence of F-commerce ...<br />
<br />
<b>What are the most important success factors for contemporary e-commerce retailing?</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMQdqPJCZ9KEKs_kKBKzC21X89mUZxaPsaOM8-UeG6UZbrB3xbPcixuTedgvH9IFdEk1AksvekdQ3mS1OEcX7btMBI8ce3PO2vp0_K-sb0wRaPVJj39PpvGy3IE2pLFfYMAQf5Icsi3Ug/s1600/wordpress-integration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMQdqPJCZ9KEKs_kKBKzC21X89mUZxaPsaOM8-UeG6UZbrB3xbPcixuTedgvH9IFdEk1AksvekdQ3mS1OEcX7btMBI8ce3PO2vp0_K-sb0wRaPVJj39PpvGy3IE2pLFfYMAQf5Icsi3Ug/s1600/wordpress-integration.jpg" /></a></div>SEO and website structure still remain the most important factors. The technology platform (Magento, WordPress WP e-commerce, F-commerce or custom e-commerce code bases) will define where you start your relationship with a customer.<br />
<br />
Do customers find you through search engines or affiliate marketing, through Google Shopping or other price comparison websites, or through more traditional marketing methods. With so many e-commerce websites available now, choice becomes a a challenge, hence the power of price comparison websites to help make price / service comparison easier.<br />
<br />
Most of the rules that apply to traditional retailing apply to e-commerce retailing. Once a customer relationship has been established, it's much easier to sell to existing customers - hence the very effective use of e-mail marketing by Amazon - that's where the real 'profit' exists for many e-commerce websites. Using the Amazon webstore platform can create additional opportunities because of 'side street' traffic, where Amazon's e-mail marketing creates product interest and visitors to the site.<br />
<br />
<b>What three technical features are essential for good e-commerce practice?</b><br />
<br />
E-commerce systems are continually evolving but there are several key 'technical' features that help to make an e-commerce website into a successful retail 'engine':<br />
<br />
<ul><li><b>Google Merchant </b>- giving your products SEO placement advantage in search engines, so that they are found ahead of your competitors because <b>first found</b> is most likely to be <b>first purchased</b></li>
<li><b>Simple social media integration </b>- simple social media features features such as Facebook 'Like', Twitterfeeds & product recommendations are simple to implement but deliver big commercial results</li>
<li><b>Behaviour tracking</b> - if knowledge is power then knowing what your customer is doing is profit. Tracking the user from their point of entry (search engines, keywords, e-mail marketing, etc) through to click tracking via heat maps build essential information to tune the user experience</li>
</ul><br />
<b>What is the likely influence of F-commerce?</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlMGkiCoRAvW4OjfyuM6bfo2efkAyvVLzsCSFMDtGOnXJ92u3b-L7xtKMdccPYoj81CBsZekJftrqiFLCZf4sdVwJQEk0pWU6zR7kDpCIo1iVeFbVgBGYH1neoHn97iKBjRwUC4RNdVyE/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-01-17+at+15.49.02.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlMGkiCoRAvW4OjfyuM6bfo2efkAyvVLzsCSFMDtGOnXJ92u3b-L7xtKMdccPYoj81CBsZekJftrqiFLCZf4sdVwJQEk0pWU6zR7kDpCIo1iVeFbVgBGYH1neoHn97iKBjRwUC4RNdVyE/s320/Screen+shot+2011-01-17+at+15.49.02.png" width="320" /></a>Facebook has lots of users, so it's a good captured market, when being used within Facebook. However, most of the 'noise' on the web currently about F-commerce appears to be driven by social media proponents (people like Facebook, social media marketing agencies & the media) - so are Facebook users your target customers?<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">There is a difference between 'impulse purchase' customers (for whom F-commerce may be suitable after they see an advert for a product in Facebook) and more deliberate shoppers, who typically type in a product name a search engine (or go directly to their favourite online retailer, such as Amazon) where they can compare online retailers easily). Since F-commerce or Facebook shops are just a 'front' for Amazon shops, so it is unclear were the additional value from a commercial perspective is achieved.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div>Given the fact that Internet consumers generally tend to be more price motivated than high street shoppers, product inclusion in price comparison systems like Google Shopping is essential. F-commerce shops can run in parallel with these price comparison systems, ensuring higher visibility to potential customers.<br />
<br />
<b>What do you think to the F-commerce phenomenon?</b><br />
<br />
Not sure we'd call it a phenomenon. F-commerce is an opportunity for Facebook to make more money and agencies are jumping on the bandwagon to make some money as well! F-commerce compromises the user experience and brand values (since it includes the Facebook branding at the top & imposes to a degree a design style). It might represent a cheap, easy way for non-professional retailers to quickly create an e-commerce store, borrowing on the Facebook credibility but consumers will rapidly see through this.<br />
<br />
F-commerce needs to innovate more heavily, integrating the Facebook advertising & marketing engine deeply to create a smarter 'path' to customer (e.g. use the Facebook demographic information, previous purchase behaviour & dynamic product variation). Once F-commerce makes the creation of new e-commerce customers more efficient, then it is possible to create a better way to sell. But the current 'engine' is clunky, ugly and unintelligent ...<br />
<br />
<b>What is the future of online retailing?</b><br />
<br />
Online retailing will undoubtedly continue to expand but the influence of mobile applications will be more influential than F-commerce due to the simplicity & general availability (around the world, mobile phone access exceeds Internet access massively). The Amazon & Ebay applications for the Apple iPhone have already changed the way people shop and are taking rapid chunks of businesses out of traditional e-commerce applications & traditional retail.<br />
<br />
If I am out shopping, see something I like, I can scan the barcode using the camera and either eBay or Amazon iPhone Apps will find the item online at the cheapest price within seconds. If there is a significant price difference, I can order & pay in 15 seconds via my mobile phone - that's faster than going to the checkout to pay! This is a massive threat to traditional retailers who have rely on the quality of their service (the shopping experience) and the customer's unwillingness to use their feet to shop further - effectively reaching a suitable price / time-spend compromise.<br />
<br />
<b>What is the future for retails stores?</b><br />
<br />
The future depends on the products. There is always innovation in retail because shopping is an experience that people are willing to pay for.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Some goods sell better in shops because of the shopping experience (chit-chat with friends, attractive sales people, the coffee 'out' & ability to touch products that feel nice)</li>
<li>Some goods are more price sensitive (and therefore people are more likely to go online and use e-commerce to make savings)</li>
<li>Some goods are simply not suitable for online retailing (e.g. wedding dresses [though even in this market, people may window shop and then purchase online]).</li>
</ul>The question really that really needs to be addressed is <b><i>'</i></b><b><i>what is a modern retail shop</i></b><b><i>?'</i></b> With people like John Lewis fusing their online and physical retail operations (e.g. order online and get it delivered to your local shop the next day for free), the line between shopping physically & online is blurring. With iPhone apps, it's now even more complex, where the shopper combines the physical experience of shopping, with access to the Internet for price comparison via their mobile phone.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ-jhHtpcTPcyrN4HOzgXYSfqD1IZRED3_6wxbDP9YErxW9z-WewT1gP0Z63NFFpdVpPkhiF2fGVKnE4F4Gq-00_QiKpzOLym2sVKMXgYjjmBNSazLnVD16sglRyECD83zjp8Rn_FdqMk/s1600/jl-logo%257Ets%257E070816111938.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ-jhHtpcTPcyrN4HOzgXYSfqD1IZRED3_6wxbDP9YErxW9z-WewT1gP0Z63NFFpdVpPkhiF2fGVKnE4F4Gq-00_QiKpzOLym2sVKMXgYjjmBNSazLnVD16sglRyECD83zjp8Rn_FdqMk/s1600/jl-logo%257Ets%257E070816111938.gif" /></a>Will retails stores be phased out completely? No ... it will never happen because there are too many goods that people need to see and buy on the basis of product context as much as the product itself. Other consumers need their product 'now'. E-commerce makes more choice available and the more choice we have, the more difficult it becomes to select and be satisfied with a purchase (as described so well in 'The Paradox of Choice') - therefore the experience comes to hold more importance (whether that be the online experience or the in-store experience).<br />
<br />
<b><i>Ultimately, with so much choice, consumers need the friendly confirmation of 'a fine choice, sir' to validate their purchase decision, whether it comes from a sales person, a friend or an online recommendation of a product.</i></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-42314714480220340072010-12-23T13:25:00.000+00:002010-12-23T13:25:26.868+00:00Fake Sony USB 64GB Memory Stick Warning<b>Just a quick note regarding a 64GB Sony USB Memory Stick which we recently purchased which turned out to be a fake. We did not buy the unit in China (given the potential issues of quality control) but purchased from a USB memory stick seller based in Jersey ... unfortunately, they are selling fake USB memory sticks (at least, the 64GB Sony Vaio version we were sent is a fake).</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif87Rv7ZoZohriUAEtVgg6GAUYxMcGvgMSpg-4fO2GuaDqRF2wmen-w-Uzc469m7-62aa_Nw3yICoUnjg8PiJzhDq2nbzyUlD3UocrsOh61uttf276R8qpF7owZUh_BODscV8htmSqx3M/s1600/IMG_0448.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif87Rv7ZoZohriUAEtVgg6GAUYxMcGvgMSpg-4fO2GuaDqRF2wmen-w-Uzc469m7-62aa_Nw3yICoUnjg8PiJzhDq2nbzyUlD3UocrsOh61uttf276R8qpF7owZUh_BODscV8htmSqx3M/s320/IMG_0448.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>It seems that the USB memory sticks are less than 1GB in size and have been reformatted or 'tricked' into reading a 64GB capacity. This is the issue - when initially being used they appear genuine but the data write rate is very slow and when you try to read the data off the USB memory stick, it is corrupted. These are essentially useless, so stay well clear if you require a working USB memory stick.<br />
<br />
I have attached packaging of both the unit and from the seller for reference, so you can work out if you are being cheated. The company in question (although they seem to have closed all feedback on Ebay) is www.memorywizz.com - you have been warned!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-6232294358324980102010-11-26T18:34:00.002+00:002010-11-26T18:37:50.958+00:00WordPress E-commerce Website Design With Google Maps & Google PlacesBuilding a successful e-commerce website is more than effective functionality. It's the complete environment the website lives in. Our WordPress e-commerce website masterclass series covers the use of Google Maps & Google Places in this edition.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpOvo4p4QakHfk4Zw5HmNn_O_MZ7Vr2Vuk59E51F6PZWmyumtsuGlkbDazZ1ljOAi4QhyphenhyphenuVCGE-9NdMJRNkDdepGZb5g7suR4hD-6H56-4BIw0_CyyTi0CzPau_hbgatSskYZFSvjlPIE/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-11-26+at+17.59.26.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpOvo4p4QakHfk4Zw5HmNn_O_MZ7Vr2Vuk59E51F6PZWmyumtsuGlkbDazZ1ljOAi4QhyphenhyphenuVCGE-9NdMJRNkDdepGZb5g7suR4hD-6H56-4BIw0_CyyTi0CzPau_hbgatSskYZFSvjlPIE/s320/Screen+shot+2010-11-26+at+17.59.26.png" width="320" /></a></div><b>How can I make Google Maps work in my e-commerce website marketing?</b><br />
<br />
Researching & writing content leveraging Google Insights is key, but it is important to spread content web-wide in order to maximise backlinks and create traffic opportunity. Google Maps are a good way to create useful & appropriate traffic building content for a website. Here, for example, is a Google Map we created that covers food related topics within Northern France, available in Google and seamlessly embedded into the e-commerce website itself. The type of content includes key information that people interested in food & visiting France might look for.<br />
<br />
<b>Interactive Google Map embedded into this post on Google Maps in E-commerce Websites</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="400" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=food&hnear=Cherbourg-Octeville,+France&ei=WPHvTNulGsiohAeNydCiDA&oi=local_group&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQtgMwAA&msa=0&msid=110957209437180471120.00048ec9c4d956ead8c4a&ll=49.639257,-1.430111&spn=0.109611,0.34504&output=embed" width="600"></iframe><br />
<br />
What you are seeing above is is an iFrame that links into Google maps which is fully interactive. The useful elements here are the Google Places tags which I have added to the Google Map, with useful information on food, shops and restaurants. This means that when someone is searching for content in Google Maps (or in fact many other types of searches that include geographic data).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUYmgao2rUd3BaOn-TApYjtyF4AB4_-Q60joyMcWOhTaV1MUwhxYhnxidBBszngRlDOQ-O3qNkpYEK80MNDFx73HBo4X4vwK1o85NsM3WFLsvKvCpiCeGtC7CQkzmRTGJsIltEbLSmBnY/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-11-26+at+18.07.32.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUYmgao2rUd3BaOn-TApYjtyF4AB4_-Q60joyMcWOhTaV1MUwhxYhnxidBBszngRlDOQ-O3qNkpYEK80MNDFx73HBo4X4vwK1o85NsM3WFLsvKvCpiCeGtC7CQkzmRTGJsIltEbLSmBnY/s400/Screen+shot+2010-11-26+at+18.07.32.png" width="400" /></a></div>WordPress has free Google Maps plugins that enable you to easily embed Google Maps into your e-commerce website, even if you are not particularly technical, simply by using the tool bar at the top of the page (as you can see to the left).<br />
<br />
To give you and idea of the power of Google Maps (and Google Places which area associated with Google Maps), our Google Maps receives around 100 unique visits per day, achieved through 2 hours of careful content writing. Some examples of useful Google Maps for e-commerce website marketing purposes include:<br />
<ul><li>mountain bike trails for bike e-commerce websites</li>
<li>photographic spots for camera e-commerce websites (with associated photos, of course)</li>
<li>secret surf locations for surfboard or windsurf e-commerce website </li>
</ul>With a bit of imagination, the opportunities are endless. Of course, not <u>every</u> businesses may have content suitable for a detailed Google Map Route, as per what we have created above, but as you can see, the relationship between geographic locations and commercial business can usually be found with a bit of creativity (feel free to give me a call for your business sector and I will happily provide you with an idea for free!)<br />
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For part 5 of our WordPress e-commerce website masterclass on <b>Google Places in e-commerce websites</b>, click here.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-25116816581329331412010-11-09T00:27:00.001+00:002010-11-26T18:35:22.706+00:00Booking Calendar Plugins for WordPress - E-commerce Website Design Part 3<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDDQYh1dhSXy8llZMY9lFKlPbbY6ajYA9oTKVOGEGpQDKipAoPytL0rdb4wYdB5U2D7BLhyphenhyphenQZsQZAl36y0MUo05HBhBI42TeKXMDUj50yQHbCNF1uR8KhMGmZTKkMWLYGEbjd_m3ohqWs/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-11-09+at+00.15.09.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDDQYh1dhSXy8llZMY9lFKlPbbY6ajYA9oTKVOGEGpQDKipAoPytL0rdb4wYdB5U2D7BLhyphenhyphenQZsQZAl36y0MUo05HBhBI42TeKXMDUj50yQHbCNF1uR8KhMGmZTKkMWLYGEbjd_m3ohqWs/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-11-09+at+00.15.09.png" /></a>Unlike most e-commerce websites based around physical products, due to limitations on kitchen size, there are a limited number of orders that SecyCooking can delivered each day. As a result, a booking system with limited daily spaces, similar to a hotel room booking system, was required for the checkout page.<br />
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<b>There are many calendar components available for WordPress that can be customised to integrate with a shopping cart. Our initial research indicated four potential calendar / booking plugins for WordPress that were potentially suitable, ranging from simple calendars through to licensed, complex booking management calendars:</b><br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://urbangiraffe.com/plugins/ajax-calendar">http://urbangiraffe.com/plugins/ajax-calendar</a></b><br />
This seemed simple enough but it was unclear how to manage events. Essentially, it's a simple calendar for listing archive dates without the flexibility we needed for our e-commerce site.<br />
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<b><a href="http://onlinebookingcalendar.com/features">http://onlinebookingcalendar.com/features</a></b><br />
This is a fully featured product with lots of flexibility and options but the free version is rather restrictive. This was an issue when developing lower cost e-commerce websites where license costs need to be kept to a minimum (like WordPress, which is free!)<br />
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<b><a href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/availability">http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/availability</a></b><br />
<b><a href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/availability"></a></b>In spite of the unfavourable reviews, we investigated this plugin further, as on paper, it appeared to have the functionality we required. Unfortunately, in practice it was difficult to work with - so gave up on this option - looks like the wisdom of the crowds was right again.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1mOnoQtX3-QQrh3A58Plq-KkYq5TPrMCVlaglKa5ROqkJ4U2gUAilPRxgMdvyEwI5OwZGjxZ_iwfoHZJBDelNa9td7UbZDc89coty7CUyz2SDeH0r8aE503FVwZhyphenhyphen25zQQjofNqaVb-4/s1600/screenshot1_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1mOnoQtX3-QQrh3A58Plq-KkYq5TPrMCVlaglKa5ROqkJ4U2gUAilPRxgMdvyEwI5OwZGjxZ_iwfoHZJBDelNa9td7UbZDc89coty7CUyz2SDeH0r8aE503FVwZhyphenhyphen25zQQjofNqaVb-4/s320/screenshot1_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>In the end, we chose to use <b><a href="http://cstart.blogspot.com/2010/05/ajax-booking-availability-calendar.html">Resource Booking and Availability Calendar</a></b>, which although a availability calendar designed purely to show availability, had the facility to enable us add extra code to make bookings or do whatever we needed. We modified this plugin massively, rewriting the mootools stuff with jquery to get the specific functionality we required.<br />
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The newly revised calendar booking plugin is now suitable for use across a wide variety of booking / calendar requirements - and has been customised to reflect the website design more clearly.<br />
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<b><a href="http://news.e-creation.eu/2010/11/wordpress-e-commerce-website-design.html">Click here</a></b> for part 4 for <b>E-commerce Website Design using WordPress</b> where we cover the creative use of Google Maps & Google Places for SEO purposes within E-commerce websites.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-20453226939251127332010-10-29T11:53:00.001+01:002010-11-09T00:28:47.794+00:00WordPress E-commerce Website Animation Design - Part 2<a href="http://news.e-creation.eu/2010/10/wordpress-with-wp-e-commerce-websites.html">Part one</a> of our WordPress e-commerce website design overview looked at the commercial influences into E-creation's decision to start using WordPress as a CMS platform and WP e-commerce as a shopping cart plug.<br />
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</div><div>In the previous article, our top five e-commerce functionality update requests in 2010 included integration into Google Shopping, CSV imports, digital content delivery, automated SEO and order forms. However, there is an basic but important requirement for a positive user experience in e-commerce websites that WordPress supports (with a bit of coding help) - <b>multimedia and animation...</b><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXUQ5M9CFQxQmBJTDVwNfnpbB7tOK-kZU46UPhCBm9PHPfT5MzHJB2cUyVadp0f3XqBK6nyMo0IbWKfbskkjOpnFdA-OpJZ0v-MT7POk2tK7CQhpTJzbXQctc35sTV0jGOfuC1uSQKiIM/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-10-29+at+10.29.54.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXUQ5M9CFQxQmBJTDVwNfnpbB7tOK-kZU46UPhCBm9PHPfT5MzHJB2cUyVadp0f3XqBK6nyMo0IbWKfbskkjOpnFdA-OpJZ0v-MT7POk2tK7CQhpTJzbXQctc35sTV0jGOfuC1uSQKiIM/s200/Screen+shot+2010-10-29+at+10.29.54.png" width="200" /></a></div><div>The core WordPress content administration functionality is flexible - certainly flexible enough to support the complicated multimedia & interactivity requirements demanded by E-creation clients. A specific useful feature we have integrated into WordPress to create a more interactive, visual experience is home page animations.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Most contemporary websites use simple, effective image animation to keep the page alive and moving. But potential customers are fickle - so updating and keeping your imagery topical is an important element in building the initial relationship.</div><div><br />
</div><div>For the SexyCooking website, we update the front page animation with seasonal food imagery and holiday based recipes (in addition to text based updates to the recipe list on a weekly basis) on a regular basis. Updates to the front page animation are done simply, by uploading an image into a specific folder, which our code searches through automatically every time someone visits the website.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEvy9WJUtR-vqiSPVUj_B43nkGqFOYdHdCE3fLkVmhOILT6WSwFdH2HWVT54lPgNT7DNzOyfYoDxfEABVVJFcsYIcvkWhSkWAqYz_YbqHi2gfR8krDoUDklJkPw9OsK2J6XjfJsu9CJhg/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-10-29+at+10.32.35.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="547" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEvy9WJUtR-vqiSPVUj_B43nkGqFOYdHdCE3fLkVmhOILT6WSwFdH2HWVT54lPgNT7DNzOyfYoDxfEABVVJFcsYIcvkWhSkWAqYz_YbqHi2gfR8krDoUDklJkPw9OsK2J6XjfJsu9CJhg/s640/Screen+shot+2010-10-29+at+10.32.35.png" width="640" /></a></div><div>Here you can see the administration screen for the media library within WordPress. Two images have been loaded or 'attached' to the <b>About Us</b> page. This is sufficient for the page to automatically read and display in the page. As part of the code we wrote, it is possible to easily change the speed with which the images change and the 'dissolve' effect.</div><div><br />
</div><div>A simple yet effective animation solution for your WordPress e-commerce website...</div><div><br />
</div><div><b><u><a href="http://news.e-creation.eu/2010/11/booking-calendar-plugins-for-wordpress.html">Click here</a></u></b> for part three of our article on <b>WordPress E-commerce Website Design </b>which looks at Booking Calendar Plugins for WordPress e-commerce website design.</div><div><br />
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-75138685937464322962010-10-29T01:30:00.003+01:002010-10-29T11:56:34.862+01:00E-commerce websites designed using WordPress & WP e-commerce work!E-creation has historically designed & built e-commerce websites using off the shelf shopping cart packages or custom written code. However, over the past year, we have noticed a web 2.0 trend towards using WordPress as a CMS platform with variety of e-commerce engines plugins to build e-commerce websites ... that work!<br />
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For 80% of businesses creating an e-commerce website, price is a primary motivator and there is no question that WordPress and plugins such as WP e-commerce can be a cost-effective way to put an e-commerce website together. However, low cost is not necessarily good value. E-creation is often asked to 'clean up' or replace e-commerce websites that have been badly developed (usually with bespoke e-commerce engines created by a small website design agency) for customers who thought they were getting a good deal.<br />
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So, priding ourselves on being at the forefront of technology, we spent the summer working through both Blogger and WordPress, to compare the two platforms before starting research into the best e-commerce plug-in for designing and developing commercial e-commerce websites.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglwsNuWqibIzLLVkGXIRd_xeKEWOUBV8SX7nUieBZeBl478t2Ta0vdYhZcYd7jbBdqtrbbggmCs5MNEZUadA4tMPuembTDu5hEeI5M4wYOmTG9xENScp22kTy1L1DJjqyG6fI324aufm8/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-10-29+at+00.12.22.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglwsNuWqibIzLLVkGXIRd_xeKEWOUBV8SX7nUieBZeBl478t2Ta0vdYhZcYd7jbBdqtrbbggmCs5MNEZUadA4tMPuembTDu5hEeI5M4wYOmTG9xENScp22kTy1L1DJjqyG6fI324aufm8/s320/Screen+shot+2010-10-29+at+00.12.22.png" width="320" /></a></div>E-creation continues to use Blogger as a useful & rapid way to drive traffic to a website (it's incredibly quick and easy to add automatically formatted content to a website using Blogger) BUT a key weakness we have discovered is Blogger's lack of e-commerce support. So to commercialise a website once it has achieve high traffic amounts, creates a problem for Blogger.<br />
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So for our e-commerce driven requirements, the team at E-creation got its hands dirty with Word Press. It was an interesting transition, as there had generally been a feeling that WordPress was a 'small scale' solution used by amateurs to put together their home websites or small scale e-commerce website but rarely used by larger corporations or even SMEs. We were therefore surprised to find that many large companies, such as SAP, CBS, MTV, Blackberry and Xerox were using WordPress for, at the very least, parts of their websites.<br />
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With that in mind, we have been pushing WordPress to the limits and seeing what it's really capable of in the context of the demanding multimedia / interactive requests that are typically made by our clients, particularly when in the context of e-commerce. Often clients already have existing e-commerce sites which are not delivering required functionality or most often, under performing in search engines.<br />
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<b>The top five new functionality requests for e-commerce websites E-creation has seen in 2010:</b><br />
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<ul><li>Automatic product export into Google Base for display in Google Shopping</li>
<li>Ability to deliver digital content automatically after purchase</li>
<li>CSV uploads to update to large volumes of product information</li>
<li>Better optimisation of content for SEO purposes</li>
<li>Order forms (literally) - long lists of products with a field at end of each product for volumes</li>
</ul><div>We can cover the results for each of the requests based on the two strongest (in our opinion) shopping cart / e-commerce plugins for WordPress - WP e-commerce & Shopp.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nG5MgsLYpLqhfkoKPFOLjz-EJ8qrCIaF0GoLnJRJLPkJpyvEoG1exfAzf2Wjt80HGqzhPTIMqwjzVXA6y4nxoawBBnRbHA1dahUxTY9Wytt7Bch3QEqM3Rb9Gqj1whu0S6crBRgY_EQ/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-10-29+at+00.15.23.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nG5MgsLYpLqhfkoKPFOLjz-EJ8qrCIaF0GoLnJRJLPkJpyvEoG1exfAzf2Wjt80HGqzhPTIMqwjzVXA6y4nxoawBBnRbHA1dahUxTY9Wytt7Bch3QEqM3Rb9Gqj1whu0S6crBRgY_EQ/s320/Screen+shot+2010-10-29+at+00.15.23.png" width="320" /></a></div><div>WP e-commerce has been around for a while and has a mixed reputation. Its strength appears to have been the support provided by its NZ based development team, although the core robustness and flexibility has been questioned by many developers online. Used in anger, we have found that WP e-commerce was quick to install and to set up basic websites. Integrating functionality improvements is possible but creates some issues when updating the core e-commerce code as the updates can override the changes made.</div><div><br />
</div><div><b>What does this mean in non techie terms?</b> It means that you can have pretty much whatever you want in terms of functionality but the website development agency building your e-commerce website had better be keeping damn good notes of the changes they make to the functionality in order to be able to keep the site up to date as new versions of WP e-commerce are installed (which happens often when using autoupdate!)</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAv4y2x0INwuWmQqNgFuYPDbrtVxJLiHK1OjXoGTKG1MJQD7R05iAAw6jA7UV8AVBneW40uYWFccgxPn1OZbBxbZGfrYmVoEyzQxwiUmaeY3DAaKmdRcB13lepWKXe2FxYjCBMesQWnrY/s1600/SexyCookingHomePage.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAv4y2x0INwuWmQqNgFuYPDbrtVxJLiHK1OjXoGTKG1MJQD7R05iAAw6jA7UV8AVBneW40uYWFccgxPn1OZbBxbZGfrYmVoEyzQxwiUmaeY3DAaKmdRcB13lepWKXe2FxYjCBMesQWnrY/s320/SexyCookingHomePage.png" width="320" /></a></div><div>So what about some of the specific functionality requirements? One of our test e-commerce sites has been the <a href="http://www.SexyCooking.co.uk/">www.sexycooking.co.uk</a> website. This site began life as a cookery blog site but has grown into a complete online e-commerce website for ordering corporate and private catering in Bournemouth.<br />
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The site had no e-commerce functionality to start with, so this was very much a test of how quickly WP e-commerce could be integrated into a WordPress website and what would be the functional stumbling blocks.<br />
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I was intrigued by a video I'd seen online that demonstrated setup of an e-commerce website in 5 minutes using WP e-commerce. In the video everything went very smoothly and indeed, an e-commerce website was up and running in 5 minutes. But from experience, nothing is ever that simple ... and it turns out the video was produced by the company who wrote WP e-commerce. Right, that explains how they were able to navigation and configure the site so quickly. So what is the real story? Well, for a simple e-commerce website, setup takes around a day BUT then more tricky configuration and customisation starts, because out of the box, WP e-commerce looks and feels cheap.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3G8P6HcZ5Ppv2qAQJinJV9WWeH4cKMg83oAk6iMTm51F6lwc6QygPhQ9RXtSR-qeX6BlA3KsV4UFnePNY55uZFieJg9Vs9w77ZXWDwArNgL0t7b5RKT33NmfQI2CvslieaMgUyQxgUH4/s1600/GRID-for-SexyCooking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3G8P6HcZ5Ppv2qAQJinJV9WWeH4cKMg83oAk6iMTm51F6lwc6QygPhQ9RXtSR-qeX6BlA3KsV4UFnePNY55uZFieJg9Vs9w77ZXWDwArNgL0t7b5RKT33NmfQI2CvslieaMgUyQxgUH4/s320/GRID-for-SexyCooking.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Luckily, we had spend a few days initially producing a simple yet effective design with clear grid (if your design team is not working to <a href="http://960.gs/">960 grid system</a> for ALL websites I hang my head in despair). This invisible geometry that makes sites feel right and easy to work with rapidly pulled the WP e-commerce pages together and within a further day, most of the pages were looking and feeling 'right'.<br />
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So two days to design, one day converting to WordPress and two days integrating WP e-commerce and we have a basic functioning e-commerce website ... so next comes home page animations in your WordPress e-commerce website. </div><div><br />
</div><div><a href="http://news.e-creation.eu/2010/10/wordpress-e-commerce-website-animation.html">Click here</a> for part two of our review of WordPress & WP e-commerce - <b>WordPress E-commerce Website Animation Design</b></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-49488291316091626042010-07-13T12:24:00.019+01:002010-07-14T18:54:50.436+01:00Virtual digital marketing director for growing SMEs<div><b>E-creation's Virtual Digital Marketing Director service for SMEs is low-cost, low-risk</b></div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIeREiV5xoa6oEtIhMgFijZ421bIIM9jr2NXVsh78w9aYMRvjClMcFKGGFHrENY29zv6YPFVS_o8kJzBYJ8xJj3xH43lkGDtF9E4yg-puK8rU0IhkZeJZLmChvm3P8JXZ6Je6ZLboa45w/s1600/iStock_000006409040XSmall.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 206px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIeREiV5xoa6oEtIhMgFijZ421bIIM9jr2NXVsh78w9aYMRvjClMcFKGGFHrENY29zv6YPFVS_o8kJzBYJ8xJj3xH43lkGDtF9E4yg-puK8rU0IhkZeJZLmChvm3P8JXZ6Je6ZLboa45w/s320/iStock_000006409040XSmall.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493425320296058018" /></a><div>Digital design agency E-creation is providing a 'virtual digital marketing director' service as a practical, pragmatic answer to in-house digital marketing requirements with measurable business results across traditional and digital marketing. With a minimum commitment 3 months, the 'virtual digital marketing director' is a low-cost, low-commitment answer to in-house professional digital marketing for your business without risk.</div><div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Why use a 'virtual digital marketing director' rather than permanent digital marketing or sales director?</b></div><div><br /></div><i>Because</i> E-creation has unique marketing (especially digital) experience. We have worked with hundreds of different businesses, providing both digital marketing strategy and digital products ranging from brand to website development, online customer research to SWAT analysis, social media marketing to search engine optimisation.<div><br /></div><div><i>Because</i> a 'virtual digital marketing director' is more cost effective than a marketing (digital or otherwise) team for 80% of SME businesses. You don't pay National Insurance, holiday pay, recruitment costs or other office expenses ... <b><i>in fact, a basic 3 month contract is likely to cost less than a recruitment company's fees for a marketing director in Bournemouth, Poole or Christchurch</i></b>.</div><div><br /><div><i>Because</i> Dorset businesses are unique - but sometimes geographically blinded. It is possible to create a successful business through word of mouth and local networking but if your aspirations go beyond 'local', a 'virtual digital marketing director' provides the experience of providing digital marketing to top international businesses like BP, Unisys, IBM, City & Guilds, Royal Bank of Scotland, the NHS and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young.</div><div><br /></div><div>We realise a client list of this calibre may scare some companies who think that they won't be able to afford our services, but with prices starting at £900 per month with a minimum term of 3 months, if you need professional digital marketing to grow your business, you can't afford not to give us a try.</div><div><br /></div><div>And to demonstrate our believe in what we can achieve for 90% of Bournemouth, Poole & Christchurch based businesses, we are happy to do a free meeting and digital marketing health check followed up by a sure-fire, practical digital marketing solution that is unique to your business. </div><div><br /><b>Example of rapid, hands activities performed by the 'virtual digital marketing director'</b><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggWA-UPojwi2-8U0nY4BSE8TevjMLNGaUKBm4MgO9LH0gUtGYXYsUw9kYl_8ZOGMY7QJeSETUws30ghW-yOVfd4y67R__urJ0bDdrwaHXy-9W3AhAML2KHI3syTHquCBZLQlgOUrhroak/s1600/iStock_000003186231Small.jpg"></a></div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggWA-UPojwi2-8U0nY4BSE8TevjMLNGaUKBm4MgO9LH0gUtGYXYsUw9kYl_8ZOGMY7QJeSETUws30ghW-yOVfd4y67R__urJ0bDdrwaHXy-9W3AhAML2KHI3syTHquCBZLQlgOUrhroak/s1600/iStock_000003186231Small.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 207px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggWA-UPojwi2-8U0nY4BSE8TevjMLNGaUKBm4MgO9LH0gUtGYXYsUw9kYl_8ZOGMY7QJeSETUws30ghW-yOVfd4y67R__urJ0bDdrwaHXy-9W3AhAML2KHI3syTHquCBZLQlgOUrhroak/s320/iStock_000003186231Small.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493425620529029218" /></a></div><div>1. Twitter management - regular updates to Twitter account with links to website</div><div><div><div>2. Facebook management - regular updates to Facebook business page and status updates</div><div>3. Blog management - updates to company blog with focus on high traffic content (with results showing within 5 minutes in Google!)</div><div>4. Website content management - regular updates to content with SEO optimisation</div><div>5. Online PR - research and preparation of news stories for distribution online and for local press</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div>By working as part of your business, our 'virtual digital marketing director' learns the unique characteristics of your business, always acting in your interests at all times whether producing marketing materials internally or using a 3rd party design agency, PR company, marketing agency or website company. As you company grows to the stage of requiring a full time marketing or sales director, our 'virtual digital marketing director' will help manage the recruitment and transition process, continuing to work as part of your growing marketing and sales team if required.</div></div></div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-21190407105960570032010-06-14T18:25:00.008+01:002010-06-14T19:47:07.017+01:00Professional website redesign for improved search engine performance and enquiry levels.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgab5D9cqIQ5hTfLSn3ry_ZlaWa5TW1O7XOEXjGKm0rs8c6A_Njcwl6YbdRqt2BkVCBKiB4FevdYCIFmRt18iomMzaKLqvcOAv5hyYKaEhVaE-rAcnwr-Gh0SCvYDdVisY1XAtrpxtLqA8/s1600/iStock_000003186231Small.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 207px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgab5D9cqIQ5hTfLSn3ry_ZlaWa5TW1O7XOEXjGKm0rs8c6A_Njcwl6YbdRqt2BkVCBKiB4FevdYCIFmRt18iomMzaKLqvcOAv5hyYKaEhVaE-rAcnwr-Gh0SCvYDdVisY1XAtrpxtLqA8/s320/iStock_000003186231Small.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482686005349940850" /></a><span style="font-weight:bold;">Starting the business journey - professional website redesign to improve search engine performance & enquiry levels.</span><div><br />For many businesses, their website has not delivered the business results promised by web agencies, who focus on design or development. Whilst we can't promise to save your online business, we can promise to improve it! </div><div><br /></div><div>As a professional web agency with a focus online marketing, time and time again, companies come to us with a website that has been built, looks amazing but simply doesn't deliver business results. A complete redesign of a website requires time and budget, but here you can get some insight into the various steps (a little free professional check list) that E-creation goes through to build a successful website addressing SEO issues & enquiry performance from ground level up.</div><div><br /></div><div>Whilst numerous technical elements make a site successful on an SEO level, the heart of good enquiry performance consists of:<br /><br />• clear definition of who your potential clients are<br />• high ranking, diverse online visibility to potential clients<br />• engaging visiual & navigation experience in website<br />• content that addresses the questions asked<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8CiTZPo281gDsYPgLJoeemh-MyZ-qoXh-grtkdtFFrj0HGHN049A0M1TXP3Lp6rCxwTjQ6p8nOpALHz0hZr12DoJ3NYIePkZCCmEDvmoqUEmatKjYp3c6kJ-77fHNk6uVQMg0VUFbgEQ/s1600/iStock_000005408259XSmall.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8CiTZPo281gDsYPgLJoeemh-MyZ-qoXh-grtkdtFFrj0HGHN049A0M1TXP3Lp6rCxwTjQ6p8nOpALHz0hZr12DoJ3NYIePkZCCmEDvmoqUEmatKjYp3c6kJ-77fHNk6uVQMg0VUFbgEQ/s320/iStock_000005408259XSmall.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482687455127247666" /></a><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Take stock, understand the lay of the land and then plan your journey</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">The first stage of any website migration or redesign is to implement Google Analytics in the existing website to establish a marker of current performance and provide insight into visitor sources / behaviour. The same code will then be used to measure subsequent website performance improvements.<br /><br />There are many ‘tricks’ both during and after design / development that are key to search engine performance.<br /><br /></span><span>Creating a branded Twitter page during development</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><br /></b>This enables E-creation to start ‘seeding’ by Tweeting about the design / development process, making small descrete comments on specific pages, animated elements and key content milestones.<br /><br /></span><span>Using Blogger early in design / development to build content momentum</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><br />Blogger outperforms other CMS applications, due to its relationship with Google (which is likely to account for 70% to 80% of your search engine traffic). Content can be created during the rebuild process and measured to refine the redesign which in progress.<br /><br />For E-creation, a typical website redevelopment would consist of:<br /><br /></span><span>Consultancy & scoping phase</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><br /></b><ul><li>Detailed documentation & scoping agreement </li><li>Setup of Google Analytics, FTP access to current site and application of reporting code </li><li>Creation of feedback document to research existing customers understandings</li><li>Keyword research, consultancy & key phrase definition </li><li>Creation of website structure and page by page key phrase definition</li><li>Writing of an example page of best practice as a template for subsequent pages</li><li>SEO copywriting training / consultancy / revisions to draft content</li></ul><i>This initial consultancy and scoping would typically take 2 weeks to complete.</i><br /><br /></span><span>Design phase</span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><br /></b><ul><li>Brand analysis, design briefing & research</li><li>Research into stock library images</li><li>Creation of three design options</li><li>Revisions to the selected design direction before art working individual pages</li><li>Art working of individual content pages (based on 10 page layout types)</li><li>Design for branded Twitter page, creation of account and implementation of design</li></ul><i>The design phase of a project would typically take 4 to 6 weeks to complete.</i><br /><br /></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>Coding phase</b></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><br /></b><ul><li>Creation of CSS, page framework and navigation structure</li><li>Creation of Blogger account for news / blog pages, application of design framework & integration into site</li><li>Coding content pages</li><li>Tuning page content / code (application of alt-tags to images, meta-tags, word cloud refinement & page links)</li><li>Art working of individual content pages (based on 10 page layout types)</li><li>Creation of back-links tracking account and basic seeding to start back-link strategy</li></ul><i>The development process again typically takes 4 to 6 weeks to complete but depends very much on the number of pages required by the specific website.</i></span><br /></span></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>A you might imagine, this forms the basis of any website redesign that is focused on search engine performance and getting business from the web.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-87802865319596593502010-02-12T15:03:00.007+00:002010-02-12T15:47:56.448+00:00Internet & online marketing campaigns for Bournemouth, Dorset<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIhd0EHUnLhyxwIBbbvJSUo-EM4Px24CDvz4Pt0MgXJ223M8Saz1cXxpa58Uns859ahyphenhyphen3CkiclhLtTm0HNqrOeNOKumy_Eo5IrYs6HYgofpC0YKdAdpRIGk0zMTq4QVqhkO8crcFrpOU0/s1600-h/world-growth.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 237px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIhd0EHUnLhyxwIBbbvJSUo-EM4Px24CDvz4Pt0MgXJ223M8Saz1cXxpa58Uns859ahyphenhyphen3CkiclhLtTm0HNqrOeNOKumy_Eo5IrYs6HYgofpC0YKdAdpRIGk0zMTq4QVqhkO8crcFrpOU0/s320/world-growth.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437378741651373202" /></a><b>E-creation is a Bournemouth based Internet marketing & online marketing agency creating world-class digital marketing campaigns using the latest web technologies & clever psycholinguistics for stunning business performance across websites, e-mail marketing & social media planning.</b><div><br /></div><div>We work with UK businesses of all sizes, including large corporates such as 3com, Unisys, Royal Bank of Scotland, National Cars and the NHS. Even with modest budgets, E-creation has achieved returns on invest in excess of 100 times investment for clients though effective digital & online marketing.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Can you business afford not to speak to the experts in digital marketing in Bournemouth? </b>E-creation is happy to speak to for free and in confidence to demonstrate how effective online marketing can be at creating new business, reducing costs and even opening up new product opportunities for your business. <div><div><br /><div><a href="http://www.e-creation.eu/internet-online-marketing-planning-agency-for-business.aspx">Click here</a> for more information on E-creation's Internet & online marketing campaigns.</div></div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-66858988868264043072010-02-08T14:02:00.008+00:002010-02-08T14:35:53.503+00:00Website and marketing hints and tips for businesses who's websites are under construction<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5OxquHDAOrt0NXhMkmWs-1Pepur92Leuy26WFiN0X5cOQOusSMQ5bsyzREp7X3FPIBBWH0K8EtnponMsg31M4r6KUsv9XOq93RKboHFBwHL0OIJ70-V5sGE3Q5Ld_h3yQm-B_LtjlQcA/s1600-h/under-construction.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5OxquHDAOrt0NXhMkmWs-1Pepur92Leuy26WFiN0X5cOQOusSMQ5bsyzREp7X3FPIBBWH0K8EtnponMsg31M4r6KUsv9XOq93RKboHFBwHL0OIJ70-V5sGE3Q5Ld_h3yQm-B_LtjlQcA/s400/under-construction.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435877520902487442" /></a><b>Website & marketing tips for businesses with websites under construction. For over 50% of small businesses, a website and online marketing is a key element in new business generation, customer relations & reducing costs*.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "> No matter how ‘non-techie’ a business might consider themselves to be, the fact that the term ‘google it’ is in the dictionary is a testiment to the pervasiveness and importance of the Internet.</span><br /></b><div><br />All businesses need to invest to grow and for business-to-business companies, a quality website is likely to see much higher ‘traffic’ levels than a reception area, an advert in local paper or leaflet drop. Yet businesses are willing to spend hundreds, if not thousands, on areas that do not deliver the return on investment that the Internet does – and that is not good business practice!<br /><br /><i>*2009 Ad-ology ‘Small Business Marketing Forecast’ report</i><div><br />For many businesses, their immediate concern is about the ‘cost’ of setting up a website – but an effective website is an investment that:<br /><br />• creates new business opportunities & clients<br />• strengthens customer relationships<br />• reduces operational costs creating more profit<br />• finds the best employees<br /><br />For businesses working with a limited budget, an effective business website can be created for as little as £995. E-creation can help grow your business through ‘cool’ design & functionality in stationary, websites, multimedia & presentations.<br /><br />Free website & marketing checklist for businesses without a website:</div><div><br /><ol><li>Have an easy-to-remember phone number visible on every page of your website. Simple yet effective! </li><li>Write quality content using web-focused copywriting for websites that achieve free amazing search engine rankings.</li><li>Set up a blog using a free tool such as ‘Blogger’. Post unique, informative content and Google will boost you to the top of results.</li><li>Keep content up-to-date because if a website has out of date information, many people assume the business is no longer trading.</li><li>Put web address on all marketing because it is the easy path for businesses to find our more and make contact.</li><li>Embrace multimedia. Use it to communicate what makes your product or service special much more effectively than words alone.</li><li>Keep the design simple yet appealing. Businesses such as Apple have built their success through effective, recognisable design.</li><li>Use directories to promote your business - 86% of business searches in Yahoo local result in a phone call to the found business.</li><li>Producing video content. It is inexpensive & easy when creatively treated yet has significant impact especially virally on YouTube.</li><li>Setup a Twitter account and use it as a free content management tool to promote products, offers and topical information. </li><li>Create a Facebook group linked to your website and let your customers do your online marketing for you by uploading photos.</li><li>Use psycholinguistics in website content to really influence behaviour and deliver the desired results more cost effectively.</li><li>Finally … get a website designed! If people are looking for you and can’t find you, then they can’t do business with you. </li></ol>Please contact E-creation on 01202 853685 or visit our website at www.e-creation.eu or to see the marketing worksheet online, <a href="http://www.e-creation.eu/images/Businesses%20without%20a%20website%20marketing%20fact%20sheet.pdf">click here</a>.</div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-49997708150224734062010-01-25T14:29:00.009+00:002010-01-25T17:50:12.740+00:00Online & traditional marketing for restaurants & takeaways<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf9jP1ZmxzZi9mq9Y-hhHZDaxsnCKzhgUs6OlBDCEKl75zDlOmBo1afwwRpzAxDL8yyXrht6tfIVBvqTK7py33gSCldkbT8Wc8V_4z0sqzoEbEPvfJbA4MLBh2JZvrbWpt0CZBUWXfwV8/s1600-h/paa544000028.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 253px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf9jP1ZmxzZi9mq9Y-hhHZDaxsnCKzhgUs6OlBDCEKl75zDlOmBo1afwwRpzAxDL8yyXrht6tfIVBvqTK7py33gSCldkbT8Wc8V_4z0sqzoEbEPvfJbA4MLBh2JZvrbWpt0CZBUWXfwV8/s320/paa544000028.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5430687736081684866" /></a><b>Marketing for restaurants & takeaways</b><div><b><br /></b><div>Each week, E-creation produces a free marketing fact sheet for local businesses with traditional & digital marketing hints & tips. Today, we focus on restaurants & takeaways.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the UK, food and drink spending outside of the home is close to £100,000,000. This represents a massive opportunity for growth & profit. However, thriving during times of economic difficulty requires simple, cost-effective marketing strategies that are proven to work. Marketing you restaurant or takwaway can be simply divided into four key areas:<br /><br />• Passing trade<br />• Word of mouth<br />• Advertising & PR in the press<br />• The Internet & online marketing<br /><br />Below, we have provided examples of specific, effective and quick to implement marketing to help grow your business. E-creation can help implement these as part of an overall strategy or on an individual basis. We can create <b>a professional and unique website for your restaurant or takeaway for as little as £495</b>. We can help with signage, design, logos, advertising, search engine optimization and social networking.<br /><br /><b>10 free marketing tips for restaurants & takeaway businesses:</b></div><div><br /><ol><li>Have an easy-to-remember phone number. Simple yet effective!</li><li>A portable folding sign that people have to walk around. It’s more effective at catching passing trade than in window marketing.</li><li>Use Twitter to promote daily / weekly specials (done simply by sending a text) to achieve greater footfall & search engine rankings.</li><li>Employ 3rd party marketing tools like TopTables for guaranteed bookings in slower periods of business using special offers.</li><li>Create a Facebook group (it’s free!) for customers to upload photos, share experiences and do your marketing online for you.</li><li>Include a photo gallery on website of famous clients (and keep a cheap digital camera on premises). Provides that ‘bling’ factor.</li><li>Create an e-mail marketing database by offering a discount on first order / meal – and then communicate regularly by e-mail.</li><li>Use the local press. Nurture your relationship with local press by offering ‘tasting’ evening – the PR can be invaluable.</li><li>Most people eat out on their birthday – capitalize by using marketing database to ‘remind’ customers at appropriate moment.</li><li>Use Royal Mail’s local leaflet drop service. It costs as little as £39 + VAT per 1,000 – that’s a lot of eyeballs for not much money.</li></ol>So that’s 10 easy ways to increase turnover & profitability, as successfully used by 1000’s of UK restaurants & takeaways. There are many approaches to building business but often the simplest deliver results fastest & most effectively.<div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.e-creation.eu/images/Restaurant%20&%20Takeaway%20Marketing%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf">Click here</a> for a printable PDF of our free marketing fact sheet for restaurants & takeaways.<br /><br /></div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-24611367601727115892010-01-21T12:20:00.007+00:002010-01-21T12:36:46.944+00:00Digital & traditional marketing tips for hair & beauty salons<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-klea52jpHKPGfIuY3qZkqFhA6EWR8SByWOAsJnHJ4XW9GgZN7qYOVRqUX2q_hLJ3Nse1LLjt91vAGSTCvhZXrFMxv88S48aK-EyLsDK7N7SwjiRnppZ_BVz4gu8L9Z9Fe58k1ACIh7cE/s1600-h/iStock_000010894925XSmall.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-klea52jpHKPGfIuY3qZkqFhA6EWR8SByWOAsJnHJ4XW9GgZN7qYOVRqUX2q_hLJ3Nse1LLjt91vAGSTCvhZXrFMxv88S48aK-EyLsDK7N7SwjiRnppZ_BVz4gu8L9Z9Fe58k1ACIh7cE/s320/iStock_000010894925XSmall.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5428100160094189090" /></a><b>Marketing ideas and websites features for hair dressers and beauty salons looking to expand business</b><br /><div><br /></div><div>Each week, E-creation targets a different business sector providing website design and marketing advice, especially for smaller local businesses. This week, we are focusing on<b> hair dressers and beauty salons</b>.<div><br /></div><div>This is a market that traditionally would appear not to benefit from online marketing, given the importance of word of mouth. However, as the general population has become more and more web literate, customers have come to expect more from businesses in terms of the information they make available online.</div><div><br /></div><div>For hair dressers and beauty salons, E-creation as developed a set of low cost, high impact online marketing tools:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><ul><li><b>Facebook</b> - creating a Facebook fan group that enables your customers to upload their own photos of events they've attended after their brilliant haircut, share information with Facebook friends and interact with each other (as well helping to drive traffic to your website and improve search engine rankings).</li><li><b>Online bookings </b>- a simple online booking system allows customers to make their appointments online (and for the salon to manage appointments using a simple online system) and even pay for it online ahead of time.</li><li><b>Printable gift vouchers</b> - online personalised, printable gift vouchers enable 'loved ones' to purchase a hair cut or beauty appointment as a gift or surprise. These can be marketed through different channels (such as www.lastminute.com) to open up a completely new market.</li><li><b>Call back technology for instant sales</b> - web technology enables website visitors to enter their phone number and instantly receive a call back from the salon, which is created automatically by 3rd party software and connects the salon as a received call. This instant communication means better conversion rates into new customers.</li><li><b>E-commerce facilities for products</b> - online shops can be easily built and represent a valuable revenue stream for salons who might otherwise see the business go to chains such as Boots or large retailers like Tesco. Hair and beauty products have large margins and can often be more profitable sources of income than haircuts or treatments.</li><li><b>Twitter</b> - instant communication of special offers sent directly to subscribing Twitter accounts lets you fill quiet periods of business rapidly, increasing overall profitability.</li></ul><div>Of course, cost is always a key factor for smaller businesses but at E-creation we prove to our clients time and time again that a website is a business investment, the same as creating a leaflet for your reception or attractive signage for the front of the business. The only difference is that a website can be seen by a much larger audience and provides the chance to create new revenue.</div><div><br /></div><div>Hair and beauty salon website design templates means E-creation can produce websites for as <i>little as £300</i> for smaller, salons who are looking to see a low-cost avenue to test the impact of having a website on business revenue.</div><div><br /></div><div>For more established businesses, an investment of £1,500 enables E-creation to create an online shop, Facebook account and put Twitter into a website for a revenue producing tool that can add £10,000's to a hair or beauty salon's bottom line.</div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-52286784275281697642010-01-13T13:32:00.003+00:002010-01-13T18:08:05.029+00:00‘Ich bin ein Berlingual’ with new name, branding and website using Berlin’s Akzidenz Grotesque.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv3avDEyJlE-DbYcwNB1f62bmpVrdNFrtgryu7OuvFO7axXbvZgMAddAPW9EpyL7M1H92wkf06sLdlRdfv3kTUQNOUPWHlg1cqrhXD9vwAJt2ZJMObSLY9VEEQc_rKED0z9WG2xkUQiAs/s1600-h/Logo.png"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 64px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426287508179449010" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv3avDEyJlE-DbYcwNB1f62bmpVrdNFrtgryu7OuvFO7axXbvZgMAddAPW9EpyL7M1H92wkf06sLdlRdfv3kTUQNOUPWHlg1cqrhXD9vwAJt2ZJMObSLY9VEEQc_rKED0z9WG2xkUQiAs/s200/Logo.png" /></a> <div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO-N4N947WRzRai0Mjts-PAmNFqpdu7dtzJi9Ak5cs_AVMpc7UO6CgcS4uEHMyxJ5HQgDWCrDq4m_fHxrqhiGI4sjM2R8a7LYfHNg0fZlh6xqjvBOO9JHB_1MkHKwh_viBNCyr0nEAf4k/s1600-h/Business-Business-Cards.png"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 66px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426270657764923890" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO-N4N947WRzRai0Mjts-PAmNFqpdu7dtzJi9Ak5cs_AVMpc7UO6CgcS4uEHMyxJ5HQgDWCrDq4m_fHxrqhiGI4sjM2R8a7LYfHNg0fZlh6xqjvBOO9JHB_1MkHKwh_viBNCyr0nEAf4k/s200/Business-Business-Cards.png" /></a> <strong>‘Ich bin ein Berlingual’ with new name, branding and website using Berlin’s Akzidenz Grotesque.<br /></strong><br />13 January 2010<br /><br />“Berlingual” is the new brand created by award-winning design agency E-creation for a growing business language school in Berlin. E-creation created the international identity as part of a complete re-branding and communications strategy revamp that plays on the difficulties of metaphors in communications across cultures and languages. The issues around language subtlety, clearly identified by John F. Kennedy’s 1963 ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ speech, where his famous phrase is also a colloquial way of saying ‘I am a jelly doughnut’, were used as a foundation for the design concepts.<br /><br />The one month process was part of Berlingual’s transformation into an internationally recognisable brand targetting increased market share across Europe and 75% turnover growth target. Design will play a future key role in achieving this growth, as seen in the success of design-led organisations like Apple and Bang and Olufsen. “E-creation has helped Berlingual to achieve international recognition. The brand stands out internationally, our website clearly differentiates us from our competitors and the business cards are clever enough to win us businesses on their own. They clearly characterise and identify the business problem faced by our clients - communicating effectively in a foreign language – using the visual proposition ‘idioms are the clearest form of language subtlety’” says Berlingual’s founder Leo Waters.<br /><br />The shape of the logo was inspired by classic ‘quote marks’ whilst avoiding common visual clichés found in communications organisation’s branding. The logo’s font, Akzidenz Grotesque, was created by Berlin-based H. Berthold in 1896, providing a deep and authentic feel to the overall design with genuine history. Akzidenz Grotesque is the basis for one of the most popular ‘modern’ fonts, Helvetica.<br /><br />The homepage of the website features an animation using traditional English business idioms. Three phrases included ‘top dog’ and ‘bringing home the bread’ were counterpointed by uniquely German imagery (the German shepherd and Swartzbrot) to instantly highlight the issues of communicating through idioms.<br /><br />E-creation used Adobe Flash to create graphic headings and navigation “on the fly” and avoid a more labour intensive Photoshop route – saving the client time and money to amend it when creating other language versions of the website while maintaining graphical integrity.<br /><br />“Clever design, historical authenticity and effective use of technology make Berlingual one of the best examples of how simple design is often the best approach. Creating a design ‘experience’ is essential for business success in today’s ‘brand rich’ environments – something E-creation nailed with Berlingual!” says Jan-Erik Paul, MD at E-creation. The branding and website can be found at <a href="http://www.berlingual.com/">http://www.berlingual.com/</a>.<br /><br />Berlingual is a new addition to E-creation’s growing international roster of brand & communications clients which includes Polish, German and US based organisations.<br /><br />REF <a href="http://laughlines.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/ich-bin-ein-jelly-doughnut/">http://laughlines.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/ich-bin-ein-jelly-doughnut/</a> New York times<br /><br />[ENDS]<br /><br /> </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9200046408884517284.post-21124855686077105532009-12-18T16:24:00.008+00:002009-12-22T10:17:45.256+00:00The 2009 E-creation Finnish Christmas Dinner<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7avBkn4LyCeByNz5aKrqtR5nln3U-uLLnsdCEZZ1vzBSTXvr0FEIrU6281pnPIiHmSYCGDE2cMH9Bo2Efqeh7LfNUd5pFOMG1Nkx3dMlIsPeNVnaP04HRtCLp3zxWNY0STbkB61VBOCA/s1600-h/2009-menu.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 222px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7avBkn4LyCeByNz5aKrqtR5nln3U-uLLnsdCEZZ1vzBSTXvr0FEIrU6281pnPIiHmSYCGDE2cMH9Bo2Efqeh7LfNUd5pFOMG1Nkx3dMlIsPeNVnaP04HRtCLp3zxWNY0STbkB61VBOCA/s320/2009-menu.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417998179951646722" /></a><div><b>The 2009 E-creation Finnish Christmas Dinner</b></div><div><b><i>'Possibly the best Christmas Dinner in Bournemouth'</i><br /></b><br />What a gastronomic feast our Christmas dinner was on Wednesday evening. Jan Erik, MD of E-creation, took it upon himself to introduce new members of the team to the pleasures of the Finnish Christmas dinner at his home in Alum Chine. The stunning menu was wholly in accordance with the ‘just that little bit sharper’ philosophy - and was we believe the best Christmas dinner held in the whole of Bournemouth.</div><div><br /></div><div>With his Finnish roots and the importance of the Christmas meal in the Finnish celebration of Christmas, it was only natural that Jan-Erik chose some of the choicest Finnish morsels. So give you a taste of what it was all about ... here is a peak of the Finnish culinary delights on offer.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Hyva Joulu! - The E-creation team</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">THE E-CREATION FINNISH CHRISTMAS DINNER MENU 2009</span></div><div><br />Honey & Balsamic Glazed Ham<br />Marmalade Encrusted Road Duck<br />Lanttulaatikko (Swede & Nutmeg bake)<br />Rosolli (Finnish Beetroot & Pear Salad)<br />Leek Gratin with St. Agur Blue Cheese<br /><br /><i><b>Served with a selection of:<br /></b></i><br /><i>Sides</i></div><div>Cauliflower & Cheese<br />Goose Fat Roasted potatoes<br />Cornbread & Caramelised Chestnut stuffing<br />Giblet gravy with Redcurrant & Mustard<br /><br /><i>Drinks<br /></i>Glog (Finnish Mulled Wine with Cardammon & Honey)<br />Iranian Sour cherry juice<br />Vodka Creme & Cranberry cocktails<br /><br /><i>Cheese board</i><br />St. Agur blue cheese<br />Kidderton Ash Goat’s cheese<br />Blue Stilton<br />French Brie<br /><br />It was a small and intimate affair with the designers and coders. An enjoyable evening was had by all and many a full belly was to be found!</div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimL4NPaPFmeNchNPDdMjvaVFIy1cNYvdaOqN7Ih_94E8BoB9GClF77PF8kiZ8Vyk3tjao3gONGosxHmFXWODZlY8K8BQf7-dTQxXY_KdohgJYLoAyc7vNDMN5U_aa8v2Unhivsat7WZsI/s1600-h/P1020287.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimL4NPaPFmeNchNPDdMjvaVFIy1cNYvdaOqN7Ih_94E8BoB9GClF77PF8kiZ8Vyk3tjao3gONGosxHmFXWODZlY8K8BQf7-dTQxXY_KdohgJYLoAyc7vNDMN5U_aa8v2Unhivsat7WZsI/s200/P1020287.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418000318772410002" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqFXOPVyUu5TuQ2bJxPbivVgzGYx_-lsZjrQTgWg1-n3huUcnJvGBmUpNXq6yBDlR01OhIgifneY7ilZZCllh6k-Yeo1w8VVwakwJIdolJcJNnJ2M3RK1wPJUUjvhxOBzE7RpmC0IZ-UM/s1600-h/P1020292.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqFXOPVyUu5TuQ2bJxPbivVgzGYx_-lsZjrQTgWg1-n3huUcnJvGBmUpNXq6yBDlR01OhIgifneY7ilZZCllh6k-Yeo1w8VVwakwJIdolJcJNnJ2M3RK1wPJUUjvhxOBzE7RpmC0IZ-UM/s200/P1020292.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417999694598156754" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLMmSUndQSVibkk1hpsgDGMaHw0NBrRCIlBE6McoK5PEQHFXy4M6rk6v79UKjzWvp1vZCz6j6sqzwYS2WGP8nbSNOL4JlGLPbMLw5PCntD8XQyKGV0MCp5OiCMpJ42uqdQlc67pc-gUfY/s1600-h/P1020291.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLMmSUndQSVibkk1hpsgDGMaHw0NBrRCIlBE6McoK5PEQHFXy4M6rk6v79UKjzWvp1vZCz6j6sqzwYS2WGP8nbSNOL4JlGLPbMLw5PCntD8XQyKGV0MCp5OiCMpJ42uqdQlc67pc-gUfY/s200/P1020291.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417999157272091426" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09498435208836216037noreply@blogger.com