Often the best ways to find out how to be successful in business, is to discover from other peoples mistakes and learn how NOT to do it!
We wanted to link to a great rundown of no-no’s in social media etiquette you want to avoid on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media sites. From the Interactive Insight group
If you or your client want to learn from a series of case studies. Head on over to the article here.
Open platforms have many benefits to small and large businesses alike, but many decision makers fear the concept of open source.
In this interesting article on Six Revisions, they discuss ways in which current open platforms can meet the business objectives of your clients and allow their project to stand on the shoulders of these giants.
We use open source for our rich media like video and photos. Also Wordpress and Magento ecommerce which are both widely adopted open source platforms. Read more about our web development services.
We are finding that a wide range of clients are asking for Wordpress as they have heard about the flexibility and scalability of the platform. Something which has never happened with any other web software or products we use for our client projects.
It is certainly easier to support the quality of a product with the vast number of online tutorials and showcases for an open source product.
The main reason why we use open source applications are that they are generally more robust and scalable, than licenced ‘closed’ source software. Open source allows an active community of web designers, developers, thinkers, etc to contribute their own code for others to use for their own projects. Take a look at the library of extensions at Wordpress.
Recent examples of the pro-active open source communities include suggesting features for future updates to Magento’s roadmap, beta testing for new features to Wordpress 3.0, and pin-pointing security holes in desktop application that an in-house team may have missed.
A Short Recommended List of Open Platforms
The government now have passed a law that could cut you off the Internet
The Digital Economy Bill has been drafted largely by corporate content providers attempting to protect their industrial business models and includes measures to disconnect alleged copyright infringers without any judicial oversight.
Other impacts include forcing open wifi providers, such as cafes, bars, libraries, etc, to close their networks or face crippling penalties if someone downloads copyrighted material.
The Bill also gives unprecedented powers to the Government and State to block and censor websites it (or big business) doesn’t like and take over domain names where it sees fit.
In short, the Bill will make the UK’s Internet less free than China’s and stifle innovation, creativity and economic growth.
Unfortunately, this bill was passed last week as the government scrambled to get a number of bills passed before the general election this May.
The effects of the Digital Economy Bill as it stands will have serious implications for everyone. Us digital media types won’t be able to stop off at a café for a coffee and check our emails because free, open wifi will be shut off. Our children won’t be able to do their homework or learn about the wonders of the wider world because the household has been disconnected without evidence after someone has been suspected of ‘illegally’ sharing a large file.
So now we face a bleak future where creativity and self expression are under we are all now being shown the Orwell 1984 treatment.
People who are Facebook fans and Twitter followers of a brand are more likely to buy the brand’s product or recommend it to a friend, according to a new study by Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies.
The study of 1,500 consumers found that 60 percent of Facebook fans and 79 percent of Twitter followers are more likely to recommend those brands since becoming a fan or follower.
The most popular reason people follow brands in social media is to receive discounts, but there were also many people who responded that they follow as a customer of the brand and to show their support of it.
Read the posts at WebProNews and Econsultancy.
We have been writing our free eguides, one every month for the last 6 months.
These have proved to be popular with colleagues and clients alike. Why? Perhaps as we are sharing what we think is the latest trends, advice and best web services and applications out there.
We aim to continue to write guides about topics which affect how we work and make web sites work harder for you on the web. If you have any questions, or have a suggestion about one you would like to see get in touch.
Feel free to share the PDF eguides with your contacts and clients, they are published using a creative commons licence.
See for yourself at our eguides page, or download them directly here:
Download ‘Top five tips to stay secure online’ (PDF 6MB)
Download ‘Top tips for your ecommerce web site’ (PDF 2MB)
Download’ client eguide to social media’ (PDF 2MB)
Download client eguide to online image editors (PDF 1MB)
Download ‘What is Link Building?’ (PDF 3MB)
Download ‘What makes good Copy?’ (PDF 420KB)
Download ‘What is Pagerank?’ (PDF 1MB)
Following on from our recent post about cloud computing, we want to explain how as an every day user of the internet based services, ‘the cloud’ can improve your productivity when working away from the traditional fixed office, which is increasing due to the current offerings of flexible web applications
If you can access the same files remotely (when away from your permanent office) no matter where you are is a relief. Even more so: access to those files and docs regardless of the device you’re using is possible too.
If you get a new computer, and already use cloud services for storing your image, documents, music files, or email, you will be surprised to find out that there are barely any files you’ll have to transfer.
Heres our selection of the best cloud based services:
What we used 6 months ago, are different to what I have recommended here. I’m looking forward to seeing what services we’re going to be using in the next few months!
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