Our New Year's Resolutions for 2012
Much expense has been spared in creating this, our shortlist of favourite resolutions for 2012. If you have any that you think may be helpful then please feel free to contribute.
Is SilverStripe CMS SEO Friendly
Why is it important?
Choosing a Content Management System (CMS) is probably the most important decision when you build your website. There are a number of CMSs, including open source, license or proprietary systems. As you probably already discovered, most of the suppliers claim that their systems are Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) friendly. Unfortunately, very often the decision makers have a limited knowledge of SEO and would probably have difficulties validating their SEO friendliness.
The Increasing Use of Mobile Devices in Jersey
There has been signficant hype and discussion surrounding the emergence of web access via mobile devices. Almost half of internet users in the UK connect to the internet via their mobile phone. So we wanted to see what the picture was like locally. We thought we would investigate this ourselves using data gathered over the past 12 months from a range of Jersey websites encompassing a variety of industries and users.
E-scape achieves first for Channel Islands with Google AdWords Certification
We are pleased to announce that we achieved Google AdWords Certified Partner status from Google. E-scape is the only business in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man to have attained the necessary standard.
The award is important because it enables local businesses to have access to the highest levels of online marketing expertise and knowledge locally. In order to achieve this status, not only did we have to employ Google qualified staff within its team, but we had to achieve a level of business directly with Google that entitled us to Partnership certification.
Steve Hickson, Managing Director of E-scape said "We are delighted that our work with Google has been recognised by attaining Partnership status. It is an excellent achievement that reflects our proposition that local businesses need to have a presence in the online marketplace. External competition for local businesses in all industries is growing and it’s critical they become involved in the digital world. This accreditation sets a standard for achieving the best results from online marketing and it is an important milestone in our business strategy.”
Attaining Certified Partner status is rewarded with direct support from Google, training and access to marketing tools including entry into Google's Partner Search where potential clients can locate you, new business coupons and opportunities to attend exclusive Google events.
Luke Szkudlarek, E-scape's Head of Digital Marketing, added that "There are still businesses locally that have not employed online marketing tools but who want to gain experience of this rapidly growing opportunity. Now with the support from Google we’ll be able to achieve even better results for our existing clients and, importantly, introduce new clients to the benefits of online marketing, giving them confidence to push their campaigns online and also achieve better results. It's really great news and a fantastic reward for all the hard work we have put into Pay Per Click campaigns with Google."
Quit trying to pimp the workflow
Why forcing a technology solution to fix your workflow is a waste of time and money
A conversation that seems to crop up on a fairly regular basis is one that I am sure most of you are familiar with. It goes along the lines of...
Google+ and +1 What does it mean for businesses
Google have introduced +1 in March, but the changes including Google+ were only released today. The recent development only confirmed the rumours that Google have been working on their own social network. But it’s much more than just another social networking tool and the changes will have significant implications for businesses.
Is this the Cookie Crunch? ICO guidelines on changes.
From May 26 the new European privacy laws will change how cookies are stored and used. These changes will require advertisers and website owners that track information online (usually via cookies) to seek consent from site users in order to do so. This will affect most websites and online marketing campaigns.
Why we chose SilverStripe as our CMS
In simple terms, what is a CMS?
First of all it might be worthwhile defining what we mean by CMS or more completely, a Content Management System. For the purposes of this entry we will limit ourselves to website systems, so in that arena, a CMS is a web application used to manage the content of a website.