This past week: RIM showed off their BlackBerry 10 phone, still to be released first quarter of 2013. RIM also had encouraging revenue news although they are still losing money by the millions. As a Canadian I have to cheer for RIM, they did innovate in the past and I really hope they can stay in business. You and I, are also in the business of staying in business; and today's tweets list has great ideas on how to do successful business online.
The much loved Infographics-> 5 Tips to Creating an Infographic People Actually Want to Read
The very popular Infographics; I'm sure you have had ideas of your own for infographic topics. This post will help you to make the infogrpichs you and your audience want.
Good points! -> Hashtag Basics: How They Work – Why They Fail
Hashtags are a great way to reach outside your followers, this article shows best practice using them. It is so easy to abuse them.
So easy to add it to your pages in YWD-> How the Google +1 Button Affects your Search Results
Google is making their social network a major part of your website SEO. Make sure you have a Google + account and more importantly make sure your business has a Google + page.
The visual influence-> 3 Reasons Your Blog Needs to Get More Visual
Us humans react well to imagery, so it is not a surprise that most social networks try to include images from a blog post (any webpage for that matter) when it is shared. Make sure you have good looking pictures for your audience to share along with the link to your post.
Good advice on mobile websites-> Mobile Advice [Video]
Mobile is here and most business websites are not optimized for mobile browsing. If you are pat of the majority this can work against you. Getting your website mobile ready is easy, and with YWD it is even easier. Take a look: YWD Mobile
It is true that G+ offers great tools for businesses-> Get on Google Plus or get left behind
Google+ is not just about sharing posts and pictures. Hangouts and Photo editor are just a couple of tools from a extensive catalog available for any business owner. You should really take a good look at all you can do with a Google + account.
I've used number 3 and 5 looks for FF-> 6 Tips to Get Retweeted More Often
If you have a twitter account then you know what is like to get reTweeted. Learn how to experience that feeling more often.
Next Friday I'll have another round up, in the meantime you can follow me and YWD on the networks below:
Don't have a Your Web Department website? Get started now, don't pay until you go live. www.yourwebdepartment.com
Gustavo Jabbaz started his digital career as a designer and then became a developer and these days spends most of his time as a digital marketer. A founding partner of Your Web Department, he's responsible for day-to-day operations, marketing and development strategy. He is who you talk to when you need support with SEO and/or Social Media. Gustavo Jabbaz on Google+ | Twitter
We have introduced a new option for the "Lightbox, launched by initial image" image gallery style that allows you to launch a lightbox gallery using an image that’s not on the gallery itself.
Sounds confusing? Then go to this page of our Help to see an example. The initial image is part of the gallery internally, but when you click on it, the image itself doesn’t appear on the Lightbox -- only the other images.
This way you can have an image that’s used simply to launch the lightbox; it can be completely different from the other images that make up the gallery. The option is selected in the content block. By default, the initial image is included in the gallery, but you can now change that if you want.
Flavio Mester is a graphic designer as well as a systems analyst (in a distant life he was an architect). A founding partner of Your Web Department, he's responsible for the design and development of all the YWD website management platform interfaces. Flavio Mester on Google+ | Twitter | LinkedIn
Posting your videos on YouTube and then inserting them into your website is great: It's free, fast, works on all devices and YouTube is accepted trusted and popular.
More importantly, it can be a powerful traffic in generating traffic for a business website. Nad if you're a business owner, you'll appreciate the fact that you don't need to know any coding, let alone hire a programmer to insert any YouTube video into your website.
Doing it the YWD way: no coding required
The Insert/Edit Video button on the Word Processor toolbar has been revamped in order to enable the latest embedding techniques provided by YouTube.
You can now simply click the video's Share button for any video on the YouTube website...
...then click the Insert/Edit Video on our editor and paste it:
In addition, you can now use the same method to insert YouTube videos into other tools that use the editor – e.g. a blog post, a slide in the Content Slider, a news item in the News Manager. This new method generates code that's HTML5-compliant and as a result embedded videos will automatically resize themselves to fit within the viewport of mobile devices.
Other ways to insert YouTube videos in YWD
You can also insert a video as a separate content block using the YouTube Video tool or, for maximum control, use the Embed Code tool to paste the code generated by YouTube with all its options.
Flavio Mester is a graphic designer as well as a systems analyst (in a distant life he was an architect). A founding partner of Your Web Department, he's responsible for the design and development of all the YWD website management platform interfaces. Flavio Mester on Google+ | Twitter | LinkedIn
Why business need to jump on the Mobile bandwagon?
Well, for starters mobile websites impact sales:
70% of mobile users have compared products prices on their phones
65% have read product reviews on their phones
50% of mobile searches lead to purchase
Having a mobile version of your website ensures your customers have an experience that is optimal for the device they are using. It means that your website is formatted for a smaller screen and ideally takes advantage of the touch screen technology (touch to call for example) and geolocation tools that quickly take users to tools like Google Maps. This kind of user experience just may be the differentiating factor that leads a potential customer to call, or stop in to, your business vs. your competition’s.
95% of smartphone users have searched for local information
61% of users call a business after searching and 59% visit the location
90% of these people act within 24 hours
With YWD mobile websites are part of our core package - that means you can go in and set up the mobile version of your website for no additional cost.
We think that mobile is so important to small and mid sized businesses that it is something we regularly blog about. Check out the mobile category of the YWD blog for tips and tricks on how best to use the features and see examples of how other YWD clients are using mobile.
We can even set up your mobile site for you. For a flat fee of $500.00 we will:
Create a page banner for your website specifically for mobile
Assessment of, which key pages (plus the Home page) are to be used for mobile. We will make sure they are mobile-friendly
Create mobile-friendly versions of up to 2 forms
Add your phone number for one-click call
Don't have a Your Web Department website? Sign up now or try it for free at www.yourwebdepartment.com
Gustavo Jabbaz started his digital career as a designer and then became a developer and these days spends most of his time as a digital marketer. A founding partner of Your Web Department, he's responsible for day-to-day operations, marketing and development strategy. He is who you talk to when you need support with SEO and/or Social Media. Gustavo Jabbaz on Google+ | Twitter
I'd like to apologize ahead of time. I'm going to go science nerd on you. Recently, I had an experience at my local bank that reminded me of the miracle that is science. My issue is with these smartphones that have become a true realization of Star Trek proportions science fiction.
Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of science in these damn devices but nothing that is as simply observable or enjoyable as, let's say, the Bernoulli principle. What is that, a new Italian coffee process? No, the Bernoulli principle states that when a fluid moves faster it is accompanied by a decrease in pressure. What does this have to do with anything?
At the aforementioned bank, I was talking with the teller when she said that she was afraid of flying. I told her that this was usually because people don't understand how a big hunk of metal can stay in the air. It was because of the Bernoulli principle I said. To illustrate I took a bank slip and asked her what would happen if I blew down on the paper from above. She said it would get pushed down. I blew over the paper and it flapped up. This blew her and several people in line away. They had never seen anything like that. I explained that the airfoil on the plane's wing caused the air on top to move faster creating low pressure and therefore the slower moving higher pressure air below the wing caused lift. More appreciative ooos and ahs.
This is simple science that is elegant and magical and we should all know this stuff. Instead we feel we have somehow conquered science. The smartphone in our hand is proof of that. We can all be Captain Kirks. But the more we are imprisoned by the increased functionality of these devices the less capable we are of appreciating science that went into it, which is tragic in my estimation.
As business owners we are delivering amazing services often with technology that we have created ourselves yet I think the public is less and less appreciative of it. Like the smartphone, the less people can observe the process of your product the service the less they understand what we are doing for them. If they ask just tell them you use the Bernoulli principle.
Paul Chato has been many things: a graphic designer, programmer, comedian, head of network TV comedy, game producer, 3D animator, playwright, event host, director and anything else that matches his fancy. Most of the time he is a managing partner at Your Web Department and is most excited about LiveBuild™. Check out LiveBuild
This past week: So people are lining up to get their hands on an iPhone 5 and apparently the new Apple map app is terrible. None of this would affect your business, but Mobile is here to stay therefore if you don't have a mobile version for your business website now is the time to give it some serious thought. The are too many opportunities for businesses to dismiss mobile; local search and mobile payment are just a couple of a long list of reasons, and it is only going to be better. Moving along, I read a lot about Social Media and SEO and how well they work together - today's tweet list reflects that.
Look! you can make Pinterest work for you-> The Single Pinterest Pin That Launched a Company
I have mentioned before the benefits of using Pinterest for referral traffic, this an example of a business's success story. Who knows, the next success story could be yours.
Well it should be different, and YWD has it covered-> Mobile SEO – Just How Different Is It?
Google is now accepting xml site maps for the mobile version of your website. Both versions should have different content - when a visitor does a search on their mobile device they should only get results that are suitable for viewing on a mobile devise.
Be careful how you those email addresses-> How Marketers Can Avoid Those Dreaded Email Spam Traps
Email marketing is on the way up and you should take advantage of the many email marketing services out there. But what you should never do is to buy email lists, the risks are high and today it is very easy to build an email list of people who really want to hear from you.
Mobile to important to be ignore by SMBs-> How Mobile Marketing Trumps the Web http://ow.ly/dRUqd
Good article, it proves my point on mobile made in the introductory paragraph above.
Next Friday I'll have another round up, in the meantime you can follow me and YWD on the networks below:
Don't have a Your Web Department website? Get started now, don't pay until you go live. www.yourwebdepartment.com
Gustavo Jabbaz started his digital career as a designer and then became a developer and these days spends most of his time as a digital marketer. A founding partner of Your Web Department, he's responsible for day-to-day operations, marketing and development strategy. He is who you talk to when you need support with SEO and/or Social Media. Gustavo Jabbaz on Google+ | Twitter
Posting your videos on YouTube and then inserting them into your website is great: It's free, fast, works on all devices and YouTube is accepted trusted and popular.
I'd like to apologize ahead of time. I'm going to go science nerd on you. Recently, I had an experience at my local bank that reminded me of the miracle that is science. My issue is with these smartphones that have become a true realization of Star Trek proportions science fiction.
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