We’ve been looking at different ways to present our web design work.
You can have all sorts of variations of thumbnails with javascript or flash animation - but the problem is, you have no control of where your visitor goes, and the added drawback is they always have to leave your site to see the work.
This is a possible nifty solution.
It is still purely in the experimental stage, the frame rates and compression settings need tweaking, and it was quickly put together this morning. But it has got potential to show clients all the highlights in a couple of minutes - without them having to lift a finger.
While the site is being built, a holding page was created for a web designer in Leeds, and submitted to Google.
The purpose was two-fold: identify this site as early as possible for the keywords web designers Leeds, and generate links by submitting to internet buzz sites such as Stumbleupon, Digg and Reddit.
A tease campaign and SEO operation to lay the foundations of a successful site. The copy reads: “Web designers Leeds. There’s a new kid on the block.”
Many ruling powers across the globe feel threatened by the freedom of speech provided by the internet.
Every Government, TV news channel, newspaper, magazine, radio station - has their own agenda and since time immemorial the history books, works of art, plays and architecture were commissioned by the victors / rulers to reinforce their view on the world.
The internet is different, yes you can read stories about the latest sighting of Elvis, but amongst all the tons of chaff there are grains of truth written by people with no agenda, other than to tell their story.
In the West, the powers-that-be have struggled to control the internet. The latest move in the UK allows the Government to read all your emails and chat room messages. Even your local council can read your messages on facebook. Why? To combat the threat of terrorism.
China has a more direct approach. They simply shut down whatever makes uncomfortable reading.
It’s the Tiananmen Square massacre anniversary, and so their population doesn’t get to hear about what happened 20 years ago, Twitter, Flickr, Hotmail and other social networking sites have been shut down.
Internet monitors have also shut down message boards on more than 6,000 websites affiliated with colleges and universities, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.
Kate Adie, from the BBC, recently went back to China and showed students the famous photo of the man standing in front of the tank – and no one recognized it.
The internet may not be perfect. It may full of porn and junk, but it is a democracy that crosses all borders and continents, where stories can be published by anyone, and read by anyone, and that must be worth protecting.
WDL is a commercial interior design and architectural practice based in Leeds, who specialise in retail, leisure and hospitality projects throughout the UK and Europe. Their client’s include Virgin, Hamleys and the Rugby Football Union.
The site features a newsletter subscription form which is fully automated and linked to a simple Email Marketing programme, so WDL can keep all their clients up-to-date with the latest developments.
A sitemap was generated and submitted to Google, the company was registered in Google’s Business Centre, and an interactive map was incorporated into the site.
Like all our sites, it has been independently tested and approved by W3C for valid markup and complies with WAI guidelines for accessibility.
I thought great advertising ideas were dead, but then I came across this.
An anti Iraq War advertising campaign on behalf of the Global Coalition for Peace perfectly executed by the New York agency Big Ant International.
“What goes around comes around” is a great strapline that everyone trusts as a truth, put into a context that really rams the message home - you can just imagine all the passers by walking around the pillars to get the message.
What the poster campaign didn’t generate awareness from, the internet coverage did.
“What Goes Around”
Advertising Agency: Big Ant International, New York
Creative director Alfred S. Park
Art director: Jeseok Yi
Copywriters Francisco Hui and William Tran.
“As a start up freelancer I know a good website is a requirement these days and I searched via google and scanned various sites and profiles.
What impressed me about Fred Campbell’s Northstar was his own site was stylish, visually appealing, informative withour being too heavy on text and a bit savvy too.
When we spoke on the ‘phone he was not pushy and seemed composed and competent which transpired in his work for me.
Archer and Stone was given added status by his thoughtful design, layout and effective use of graphics.
I wasn’t quick at providing content (busy life) but he was patient and the end result is great. I would recommend Fred at Northstar heartily and expect others to get an equally good service.”
Karl Collingwood-Thirlway, Archer & Stone, Legionella Control Specialists
Northstar was contracted by Ancar B Technologies to provide video house tours on behalf of their client Barnes Homes.
Two cameramen with broadcast quality equipment were dispatched to six houses in three locations over a couple of days to capture the footage.
Three hours of video was then edited down in 6 Video Tours of under 3 minutes each.
The final edits were provided in DV, FLV and QuickTime formats for their web developers to then embed on the Barnes Homes website.
With the advances in technology reducing the production software and widespread broadband delivery, web video is now a viable and cost effective tool in online marketing.
Archer & Stone are health and safety consultants based in Leeds, specialising in legionella risk assessment and management. Being a new business start-up a low budget web design was required, initially just to give them a presence on the web.
Times are changing, not long ago having a website was a novelty, today a company without a website looks suspicious - it’s the bare minimum; like having business cards and letterheaded stationery.
As part of our New Business Start-up Package, a logo was designed and provided in all formats for screen and print.
As there was no budget for photography, a strong graphic background was created to lift the site and give impact. Although it was a low budget web design, the site was still built to the highest international standards, Valid XHTML 1.1 and CSS2 markup, and scoring Triple A for web accessibility.
The logo and 11 page site were created in 48 hours over a 2 week period.
UDC Dance Company’s website is over 4 year’s old and required a major re-design to meet their client’s needs.
The site generates dozens of enquiries every week, with potential clients frequently asking more photographs and more information. To reduce admin, each dance theme and dance style will have its own microsite with separate gallery - PDFs will also be available to download.
The website re-design will be completed in instalments over the coming weeks. The first microsite to be uploaded was the Diva dance group, for marketing and club promotions.
These thoughts and figures are an extract from a presentation made by Amit Singhal. If anyone knows how the web works, it’s him - he’s from Google.
His analysis goes like this:
“Users follow the results on Search Engines, money follows the users, and the spammers follow the money.”
What I didn’t realise, is that besides the bogus sales and scams, spammers also get kickbacks from traffic to target sites as well:
“Traffic from Search Engines to Amazon / eBay – A few dollars per click.”
“Traffic from Search Engines to Viagra sellers – $6 per sale.”
“Traffic to porn sites – $20-40 per member.”
How much money can spammers make?
According to Google, there are approximately 500 million searches made everyday through website search engines. This figure is considerably higher if you include vast amount of porn queries.
If you only assume that 5% of these searches are commercially viable, and that they only make the minimum 50 cents per click - the spammers are making $12.5M a day, or about $4.5 Billion per year.
And these figures are conservative, based $0.5c per click, they can make anything up to $40 per click.
These figures are no consolation for the frustration and inconvenience all this spam causes, but at least now you know the reason why.
Tags: spam Subject: Internet | CommentsWhy+do+people+Spam%3F2009-05-12+09%3A34%3A43admin
