interesting things
Marketing
Can the Free Web Site model work?
Mar 22nd
I’ve been thinking about this for a while now… and I’m wondering whether the Free Web Site model can really work. It was an advert in today’s Crain’s Manchester that got me thinking. It was an all-inclusive single price package for web site design, logo design and SEO work – all for the bargain price of £999. In my opinion, that seems a little steep… More >
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What’s the difference between slander and libel?
Mar 19th
It’s one of those terms that are often used interchangeably, but really, they mean different things.
It’s therefore important to understand the difference between the two.
The key difference relates to the form in which the defamatory matter is published.
Libel relates to a written or otherwise published, public defamation of someone or something.
Slander, on the other hand, relates to the spoken false defamation of a person or entity, and can also include gestures or sign language.
The main difference is that the publication of the offending material is fleeting in nature.
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The UK Recruitment Industry – info sources & magazines
Mar 19th
Working within the UK Recruitment Industry it’s important to stay abreast of developments that are going to affect you. It goes without saying that recruiters need to remain informed of the news that affects them within the sectors that they trade in, so there will be countless sector-specific news sources that will provide information such as this. However, it is also important to remain informed of developments that specifically affect the UK recruitment industry – whether it is government legislation, recruitment trends, market sentiment, new HMRC guidelines, or even just monitoring the competition. The following set of links are all useful sources of information for the UK recruitment industry; there are more, but these are the primary ones that I use.
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LinkedIn Super Guide
Mar 16th
I’ve been researching LinkedIn as part of another project and came across this great resource billed as a LinkedIn Super Guide that includes Tutorials, Tips & Advice, and Tools links to different web sites and blogs. It’s definitely worth checking out: HERE (published 12th May 2009).
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Social media statistics
Mar 11th
There are all sorts of facts and figures flying around concerning social media and, on the surface of it, the numbers are quite significant:
- Over 18m active Facebook users in the UK
- 50% of users return to the site on a daily basis
- The average user visits twice a day
- The average visit length is 25 minutes
YouTube
- It is now the UK’s 2nd biggest search engine
- An outstanding 15m unique visits clocked up every month
- Every minute, 15 hours of YouTube video is uploaded
- Estimated 6 million users
- Subscriber base is 63% male
- Largest age demographic is 35-44 year olds
- 14% are considered as ‘stable career’ types
- A quarter of users are high earners
- Over 2.5 million users in the UK
- This is growing at an estimated 80,000 per month
- 60 million users worldwide
- Spans 200 countries
- Average user age 41
It has also been reported that spend on social media marketing will reach $3.1 billion by 2014.
Clearly it’s an important (new) media channel, but developing a suitable strategy to engage with these users requires a different mindset altogether from the traditional marketing approaches that have been used over the years.
The question is, how should a strategy be developed that integrates with current activities, aligns with business objectives and delivers tangible or quantifiable returns on investment? That’s the key – and that’s what I plan on addressing in subsequent posts.
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What is Social Media?
Mar 9th
The phrase ‘social media’ is a broad concept, incorporating many different formats; including tools and services such as: social networking sites, blogs and micro-blogs, podcasts, professional networking sites, and online video. Collectively, they’re often referred to as Web 2.0 technologies.
This phrase “Web 2.0″ is closely associated with Tim O’Reilly, after he used it in a 2004 conference. It broadly relates to the second generation of Internet-based services.
The 1st phase or generation of sites, were typically static sites or web pages that had minimal interaction between the visitor, other visitors and the site. This second generation of web sites are much more dynamic, allowing for individual content generation, sharing information, participation in online discussions and conversations, and web sites that can generate new pages and content automatically, on the fly.
I plan on expanding on this initial explanation of Social Media in my subsequent posts, building up a small knowledgebase and publishing guides about what services are out there and how they can best be utilised.
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How much should a web site cost?
Mar 5th
This question seems to be asked all the time, often by people that don’t necessarily understand what’s involved with setting a web site up, or who have been bamboozled by agencies, developers or designers trying to charge them excessive fees.
The basics
It really depends on what level of technical competency you have personally. Purchasing a domain name and hosting it are the two major up front costs that you need to consider, because after that, everything else can be carried using Open Source software. In the UK, if you’re doing it all yourself – you can get decent hosting and a domain name, all for about £30 a year – as long as you’re willing to the design and promotion work yourself.
The intermediate options
Off the shelf scripts, are where you can really supplement existing Open Source web offerings – but these are only really beneficial if you’re trying to achieve something non-standard. General prices for functional scripts that can often be bolted on to existing open source web site structures range from about £20 to £100, although increasingly some authors are pursuing subscription models (for updates and support primarily), or are asking for donations if you use and benefit from their hard work.
The advanced options
Really, unless you have tons of cash or are producing a web site for a company – the advanced option of paying for a web team or designer to put a web site together for you will be beyond the means of most people. Prices can range from a reasonable £100-ish, to thousands and tens of thousands…
But with so many free options available, why would many people want to look at these expensive options. A little bit of hard work and systematic research and anyone can begin creating their own web site, whatever their requirements.
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Free printing / artwork templates
Mar 4th
I’ve found a good resource that I use regularly to source artwork or printing templates for some design work that I carry out.
The site is affiliated with one of the low cost printing companies I use – Stress Free Print – and you can get to it HERE.
The site, Tom the Printer, includes various templates and sizes for the following generic designs:
- Flat Leaflets / Flyers
- Folded Leaflets / Flyers
- Presentation Folders
- Stationery
- Business Cards
- Greetings Cards
- Tent Cards
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