Blog

1. Pamela ad deemed too rude

   03:03:2010 | Online Marketing +

   
   
   You tell’em Gavin.

   - Visit Crazy Domains

   03:03:2010 | Online Marketing +

2. Making Ideas Happen

   02:03:2010 | Buy This + Brand Design + Online Marketing +

   “Ideas don’t happen because they are great - or by accident. Ideas are made to happen through a series of other forces.”

   Written by Behance Founder & CEO Scott Belsky, whose new book, Making Ideas Happen, chronicles the methods of exceptionally productive creative people and teams.

   Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision & Reality (Penguin, Portfolio Imprint) – will land in bookstores next month, on April 15th. In about 250 pages, the book collects a series of pragmatic tips, tools, and anecdotes about the art (and science) of making ideas happen.

   

   —> Pre-order the book now
   —> More information & reviews

   02:03:2010 | Buy This + Brand Design + Online Marketing +

3. iPatch

   25:02:2010 | Most Excellent +

   

   25:02:2010 | Most Excellent +

4. Building Loyal Customers with Email Marketing

   01:02:2010 | Online Marketing +

   When you’re walking down the street on a nice day, do you like it when a car salesman grabs you by the arm and forces you to come take a look at his latest model, even though you’re not in the market for a car?

   No one does. That’s how unsolicited emails feel to most people. Invasive, unwanted, and unavoidable.

   On the other hand, do you like it when you receive a coupon for 20% cup of coffee in the mail from your favorite coffee shop? After all, it’s a place you buy from quite a bit anyway – and now you have this handy coupon to save you a little money. You have good feelings about that company now, and now that you think about it, you could use a cup of coffee. You’ll go over there right now.

   That company just made you a little more loyal and a lot more eager to buy from them. And that’s what a good email marketing campaign can do for you.

   Finding the Right People to Talk To

   Building a good email list is based on figuring out which of your customers sincerely wants to know more about what you have to offer. Not surprisingly, most of the people who sign up for your email list will be former customers. These people already know that they like what you do and that you’re good at it, and they have faith that you can deliver quality.

   For example, if you’re a marketing company, your current customers already know that you’re good at what you do. They’re likely to want to receive your newsletter full of handy little tricks they can try on their own – and they’ll think of you first when they need a bigger project, performed by an expert. If you’re a product-based business, your customers like your products and will want to hear about new deals and items they might be interested in.

   Once you’ve found the right people, you want to build their loyalty by making them feel completely comfortable with what you’re sending them. An excellent way to do this is by targeting your emails to individual customers based on their needs or interests. Amazon.com is perhaps the ruling champion of this technique, sending their customers targeted emails containing the current deals on products that are similar or complimentary to their prior purchases.

   Think of a way to show that you care about what your customers really want to receive, and they’ll be loyal customers – and subscribers – for life.

   . . . . And Avoiding the Wrong People

   Many email marketing campaigns start off by buying an expensive list full of many names. This is possibly the very best way to jeopardize your campaign, and you should avoid it at all costs. For one thing, it’s a good way to get your emails tagged as spam – even the ones who go to people who sincerely want to receive them. Spam filters identify all of a sender’s emails as spam after a certain number of complaints, and you don’t want your company to wind up on that list. It’s a long road back.

   So how do you get people to sign up for your emails? Ask them. Be honest about the benefits you’ll be offering and ask people when they’re already feeling good about your company. Directly after a purchase is a great time to ask people to opt-in to your email list, either on your website or in a follow-up email to confirm the purchase. When people are already excited about your company, they’re more likely to want to receive more information about what you can offer them.
   But what about getting new subscribers from the visitors to your website who haven’t yet made a purchase? Try offering a small incentive to capture those who aren’t yet convinced they should buy from your company – perhaps a coupon for 10% off a service, or a free short ebook full of information. They’re likely to become customers in the future as your emails convince them of the quality of your company. 

   What’s the Loyalty Connection?

   When customers ask for valuable information and deals and receive them promptly and regularly, they feel a sense of goodwill toward your company. You’re the helpful company. The one who always knows just what they want. The one who sends that surprise exclusive discount just because you appreciate them.

   And when they get that kind of attention from you, are they likely to want to buy from your competition?

   Not at all. That’s loyalty. And that’s what a good email marketing campaign can get you.

   01:02:2010 | Online Marketing +

5. 3 Online Skills Every Small Business Owner Needs

   25:01:2010 | eCommerce + Social Networking + Startup Guides +

   Most businesses at this point are aware that they need a website and an email address, but very few take it any further than this – and some haven’t even gotten that far. This in spite of the fact that mastering a few basic online skills can improve your customer base, your sales, and your customer’s loyalty to you. After you get a well-designed website in place, consider adding these online skills to your repertoire to get more out of your business.

   E-Commerce

   Though many businesses have websites, comparatively few of them have online sales options. Customers can find out what your business does and where it is located, but they can’t make a purchase. Especially considering the instant-satisfaction demands of today’s consumers, this approach may be losing you far more customers than you know.

   A basic e-commerce addition to your website is fairly easy and inexpensive to install, and the benefits are myriad. With e-commerce, you can:

   • Make sales after business hours. Your business closes at 5 pm and when your customers find out they’re too late to buy from you, they visit your competition instead. With e-commerce, they can buy anytime it’s convenient for them, without you needing to open shop.

    

   • Cut down on staff costs. Usually, if you wanted to stay open later in order to allow more time for customers to buy, you’d have to take on more staff or pay your current staffers more. With an e-commerce site, you’ve effectively extended your store hours with no overtime needed.

    

   • Automatically send orders to shipping. Most e-commerce sites will notify whomever you choose that a purchase has been made and needs to be filled. That makes it simple for you to get those orders out without losing track of order forms.

    

   • Set up a secure site so that your customers feel comfortable shopping with you, and start expanding the number of sales you can make in any given 24 hour period.

    

   Review Sites

   One of the reasons your customers stop being loyal to you is if they’ve had a poor experience with your business. Usually it only takes one bad experience to turn off a customer for life – and very often, you won’t even be aware that you’ve lost the customer. You don’t even know what it was that made them decide not to return.

   Review sites post the comments of actual customers about what they liked and did not like about your business, and they are often much more frank – and plentiful – than professional reviewers, giving you an excellent idea of what you’re doing well and what needs improving. You can also follow up on unhappy customers and turn their opinions of you around with a little customer service.

   Look to sites like Yelp, Yahoo! Local, Citysearch, Google Maps, and even Twitter to find out what your customers are saying about you. Google Alerts can send you a notification anytime someone mentions your company, and you can see if anything needs your attention. If you see a bad review, try to help that person fix whatever problem they had with your company, and offer to make amends any way you see fit. Often, you’ll find that unhappy reviewer turns into a loyal customer because of your excellent customer service – and online skills.

   Social Media

   As we discussed, many of your customers will mention your company on social media sites like Twitter, and you can use that information to improve your business. Social media is also worth mastering because it can help you build personal relationships with your customers. They’ll start to think of you as a friend instead of as a business – and we’re much more likely to want to support our friends.

   Several excellent social media sites for business include Facebook, Twitter, and having your own blog. These are relatively easy to set up, and you’ll find that you can make friends with lots of people who come to peruse your page. Be friendly to those people and make them feel at home with you. You’re not looking to sell them anything, you’re just building a relationship and letting them know what your business is all about. That way, if they’re in the market for something you sell, they’ll look to you first. After all, they know and trust you – why wouldn’t they want to come to you first? 

   Some advice on social media – just be yourself. One of the perks of being a small business is that you really are the face of the company, and customers will feel loyalty toward your business as they grow to like you. Have fun and make some friends – it’ll be one of the best business decisions you ever made.

   25:01:2010 | eCommerce + Social Networking + Startup Guides +

6. edmtech soon to launch

   03:01:2010 | Emotech News + Online Marketing +

   When edmtech launches in early 2010, our customers will be able to design, manage and send powerful email campaigns directly to their customers. We anticipate that this will be one of the most popular marketing services offered by emotech since the announcement of seotech late last year. Check out some of the features below:

   

   Design great looking emails - Using your own tools, or let us create templates you can reuse again and again!

   Manage Lists & Subscribers - We handle signups, unsubscribes and bounces automatically. Easily create targeted segments of subscribers.

   Powerful Analytics - Actionable reports that go beyond opens and clicks. Track your email related conversions and sales.

   03:01:2010 | Emotech News + Online Marketing +

7. seotech offers search engine optimisation

   29:12:2009 | Emotech News + Online Marketing +

   If you shop around for an SEO solution, you’ll soon realise that the successful SEO companies are charging BIG money for their services. The technology we employ at seotech leads the world in its capability to manage a large client base with high efficiency. All of our software tools have been developed in-house and support each other seamlessly. The end result is our ability to offer a high grade SEO solution at a low cost. Do your research. Our prices will be unbeatable for the results we guarentee!

   

   If you would like to be informed of this new service when it launches, please send an email to emotech and we will put you on our newsletter.

   29:12:2009 | Emotech News + Online Marketing +

8. Top Websites of 2009 Revealed

   04:12:2009 | Online Marketing + Social Networking + Technology +

   People entering search keywords into Google and Yahoo give an excellent indication of exactly what people are looking for and what sites they are visting. Social networking took out 6 of the top 10 search terms as people try to connect with each other.

   What we find supprising, is that many people still use search engines to visit websites they know the domain name of! So basically they visit Google and type in “twitter” then visit the twitter website.

   Google Data:

   1. facebook
   2. youtube
   3. hotmail
   4. ebay
   5. myspace
   6. google
   7. yahoo
   8. gmail
   9. bebo
   10. seek

   Want to know what other countries have been Googling for this year? Head on over to the official 2009 Google Zeitgeist website.

   04:12:2009 | Online Marketing + Social Networking + Technology +

9. Kidz In Space - Lose My Cool

   25:11:2009 | Most Excellent +

    

   25:11:2009 | Most Excellent +

10. ABC iView Updates Homepage

    19:11:2009 | Site Analysis +

    Visit iView.

    
    
    
    

    19:11:2009 | Site Analysis +

11. The Future Of The Social Web - Forrester Research Report

    05:11:2009 | Social Networking +

    Brian Solis for Social Media Today does a good deed summarising Jeremiah Owyang’s Forrester Research Report on “The future of the social web” (which retails in digital format for $499 from Forrester).

    As we step further towards the “age of social colonisation”, web tools like OpenID and Facebook connect will enable individuals to freely journey from network to network. A result of this could be leveraging these tools to remove the registration obstacle from your own websites and use the power these systems will offer.

    Jeremiah’s future forecast is somewhat like predictions by Steve Rubel who states in his blog that some organisations in the future may not even need websites at all.

    Executive Summary (This is a document excerpt)

    Today’s social experience is disjointed because consumers have separate identities in each social network they visit. A simple set of technologies that enable a portable identity will soon empower consumers to bring their identities with them — transforming marketing, eCommerce, CRM, and advertising. IDs are just the beginning of this transformation, in which the Web will evolve step by step from separate social sites into a shared social experience. Consumers will rely on their peers as they make online decisions, whether or not brands choose to participate. Socially connected consumers will strengthen communities and shift power away from brands and CRM systems; eventually this will result in empowered communities defining the next generation of products.

    05:11:2009 | Social Networking +

12. Starting a business online

    30:10:2009 | Startup Guides +

    Starting an online presence for your business might seem like a very complex, time consuming and expensive venture. This guide is going to help clear up some of those misconceptions.

    It’s true that choosing the proper online services and making the right decisions is important. Mistakes cost time and money.

    But you don’t need a year or two of research to fully understand how to create an online presence for your business. Whether you have a bricks-and-mortar venture that you’d like to bring online or you’re starting an online-only business, there are steps you can take to achieve online success in an easy, cheap and profitable way.

    Don’t worry about what type of business owner you are or how small or large your business might be. You could be a sole operator working out of your living room, a small business owner, or a multinational company - that’s not important to getting online. You’ll follow the same steps, no matter who you are.

    Of course, if you already know the difference between your index finger and index.html, this article is likely not for you. It’s for business owners who need some handholding or a push in the right direction, and it offers a comprehensive five-step plan with clear descriptions of the stages involved in starting and operating a business online successfully.

    Step 1 - Getting Started
    • Static, dynamic or enterprise?
    • Registering a domain name
    • Choosing a web hosting provider
    Step 2 - The Website
    • Hiring a web designer
    • How to choose the right web designer
    • Who controls your website?
    Step 3 - Going Live
    • Launching & reviewing
    • Analysing for improvements
    • Submission to Google, Yahoo! & Bing
    Step 4 - Traffic
    • Word of mouth
    • Search engine optimisation
    • Link Building
    • Search engine advertising
    • Social media advertising
    Step 5 - The Future
    • Email marketing
    • Building relationships
    • Bricks and mortar

    

    Step 1 - Getting started

    Static, dynamic or enterprise?

    Your first step involves deciding exactly what your website will offer to its visitors. There are generally three options for businesses:

    Static Website

    A static website is one that isn’t updated often and has little to no administration involved. It sits on the web, serving as an interactive online brochure about your business and the services you offer.

    A static website typically contains links to other websites you may own, and it may list your business partners or suppliers. It offers a means of contact to website visitors, such as your email address, the physical business address, a map to get to your location, and a contact form so that people can send you messages directly through your website.

    You may also offer visitors material they can download, such as forms or product and services in Adobe PDF format. Some static websites also offer video and audio downloads.

    Dynamic Website

    A dynamic website is one that is updated occasionally or frequently. These updates might include business news, blog posts, articles, video or audio downloads, or other content you want to make available to your website visitors.

    A dynamic website is now one of the most common types of websites a business will begin with online due to its flexibility.

    A dynamic website is typically built onto a Content Management System (or CMS) that allows a site administrator to have all the tools he or she needs to update the material on the site and make it available to visitors.

    What’s a CMS? A CMS can be simply described as a website that supports the creation, management and discovery of information. It handles the complete lifecycle of your website content, providing simple tools to create, publish and archive its content. It also provides the ability to manage the structure of the website, the appearance of the site’s pages and navigation that allows visitors to explore the content you offer them.

    eCommerce Website

    An eCommerce website is one that is similar to a dynamic website and also offers you the ability to sell products online through commercial transactions.

    Products you offer could be physical items, like t-shirts, makeup or computer parts, digital goods such as ebooks, music files or software. An eCommerce website might also be one that lets you sell subscription services and membership courses or offer credit card charging features so that people can pay you for your products or services online. It does not need to display a product catalogue at all.

    You can even create a website that offers a combination of static, dynamic and eCommerce features as the perfect online environment for your business. A combination site lets you achieve continued, lasting success and a constant return on your initial investment of creating an online presence.

    Once you’ve decided the type of site that’s best for you and your business, you’re ready to plan the infrastructure you need to maintain technical requirements.

    Registering a Domain Name

    A domain name is the website address (or URL) - for example, www.google.com is the Google company’s domain name. A domain name allows people to find and visit your website via their web browser (like Firefox or Internet Explorer). Choosing a domain name for your online presence can be simple, fun and rewarding!

    You’ll need to register the domain name you choose to become its owner. Once you register the domain name, it’s yours forever (providing you continue to renew it). You can choose from many domain name types, but a top-level domain (or TLD) is the most common for business registrations. The .com TLD is widely accepted as the international default.

    A good rule of thumb is to select a domain name that reflects your actual business name as close as possible. Unfortunately, many domain names that might have been perfect for you are already registered and owned by other people or businesses. It can be difficult to find an available domain name to register that would fit well with your business.

    Don’t get discouraged. There are many variants of good domain names that will work just as well for your business. For example, if you wanted “www.greatbiz.com” but it’s already registered, you might find available variations like “www.yourgreatbiz.com” or “www.onegreatbiz.com”.

    It’s also a good idea to register the available variations of the domain name you choose. For example, if you register “www.yourgreatbiz.com”, try to register the .net, .biz, and .info variations as well. Doing so helps reduce visitor confusion, as all variations of your domain name points to your business. Having more than one domain name variation can also come in handy if you decide to expand into a global market or increase your online exposure later on.

    To register your domain name, visit an authorised domain name registrar for your country and search for your desired domain name(s). Once you’ve found a name you like, go ahead and register it!

    We suggest a minimum registration period of two years, with ten years being the safest and most secure way to ensure your domain name remains yours for the long haul. Domain name registration can cost as little as $10 for a 1 year .com domain, depending on your location.

    Note that during the registration process, you may need to pass through various levels of control or security in order to take ownership of the domain name like supplying business details and registration numbers.

    Once your domain name is registered, it’s time to think about website hosting.

    Choosing Website Hosting

    Many people wonder, “What is web hosting?”

    Well, think of domain names and web hosting like your phone number and telecommunications carrier. You choose a phone number, and your phone service provider offers you the equipment and services you need to make calls and let people call you. Your domain name would be like your phone number, and web hosting would be like the equipment and services you need to make calls.

    

    
    Essentially, web hosting lets you store all your website files and content online so that visitors can find and access your website.

    Web hosting can be confusing. Depending on the type of website you’ve chosen to have, you may need some specialised technologies (PHP, MySQL), hardware requirements (CPU, RAM, HDD) and usage allowances (bandwidth, storage, email, ftp etc). It’s very important to anticipate your hosting needs before starting a website project as being unprepared can costly in terms of time and money.

    Luckily, most web hosts today offer packages that fit various website requirements and offer them at different price points. After deciding what type of site you want and the features you’d like to have within it, a quick consultation with your website agency you confirm the web hosting package you should budget for.

    There are typically three types of web hosting: shared, dedicated and VPN (virtual private network). Rarely will a typical business require a VPN or dedicated hosting solution, with the right reputable web host a shared hosting package will be more than enough.

    Here are some technical terms and descriptions that may help you decide the right web hosting package for your needs. Knowing what these terms mean and how they apply to your website can help you save a lot of money in the future.

    Storage Space
    Storage space is the number of megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB) that will be allocated to your web hosting account. The more storage space you have for your account, the more files and content you can store on the web host server.

    Bandwidth
    Each time your website has a visitor, it “serves” them a web page to view. This “serving” needs to be accounted for and adds to the cost of your web hosting. The more “serving” your website has to do, the more bandwidth you need.

    How much bandwidth you need depends on the type of website you’ll have, what content you’ll offer and how many visitors per month you anticipate will visit your website. You’ll receive a monthly allocation of bandwidth with your web hosting account, which is reset each month.

    POP3 Mail
    POP3 mail is a method of storing and retrieving email accounts. Each email you wish to have for your website, such as info@yourwebsite.com and jerry@yourwebsite.com, requires one POP3 email account. The more email addresses you want, the more POP3 accounts you need.

    For most businesses, five POP3 emails is enough. Unlimited accounts are great. But keep in mind that the use of POP3 email counts towards your storage and bandwidth usage as well.

    If you have a web mail service already, such as Gmail, you can continue using it to capture your website emails by pointing your POP3 mail accounts to the Gmail service. Or, you can download your POP3 email to your mail client service to read from your local computer - mail client services can include Outlook, Thunderbird or Apple Mail.

    Sub-domains
    A sub-domain is self-explanatory: It’s a sub-section of your main website, and uses the main domain name within its own domain name, such as in the case of “hyyp://subdomain.yourwebsite.com”. They do not usually use a www. prefix.

    Sub-domains are handy when you need to set up different sections for your website, like a separate forum, or when you want to have access to a hosted web application, like a project management application.

    MySQL
    MySQL is a type of database used to store data for dynamic and eCommerce websites. The more databases you have, the better the scalability of your website for future growth.

    FTP Accounts
    FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, and it allows you to upload files to your website and download files from your website to your local computer. An FTP account is accessed via FTP software like Filezilla or CuteFTP.

    In general, you’ll only ever need one FTP account, unless you’ll have multiple website administrators or want to allow site visitors to access and download large files. They can bypass your website and download the files they need using a username and password.

    SSL Certificate
    An SSL certificate lets your website encrypt and transmit data securely, providing you with non-forgeable proof of your website’s identity.

    An SSL certificate also gives customers confidence in the integrity and security of your online business. It’s a must-have for private information transactions, allowing visitors to send personal information securely over the Internet, and to the right place.

    In fact, customers are becoming increasingly aware of SSL security and often refuse to purchase goods or services online from non-secure sites. All major web merchants use SSL security to reassure their customers and encourage sales.

    SSL security isn’t limited to eCommerce websites, as you can also encrypt forms and other data that travels back and forth through websites and web browsers.

    Step 2 - The Website

    The internet is a rapidly changing environment. As technology evolves, what we can achieve and build online becomes more feature-rich and powerful every year.

    While there are many companies that offer packaged website solutions (usually subscription fees apply), these website packages are generally designed to cater to everyone, and they don’t always address a specific or unique need. Some website packages also only usually provide a very basic template for your site that makes it difficult to display your unique design, style and brand trapping you into a “boxed” environment.

    The good news is that a custom designed, professionally built website is affordable, and the investment you’ll make is often quickly recovered. A good website pays for itself by giving you exactly what you need - fast.

    Hiring a Web Designer

    A good website designer (or agency) works with you to ensure your business brand is a priority. A skilled designer will create an architecture for your site (think building blueprints), and then they design and develop a website that creates and maintains the best possible communication between your website and your visitors.

    Typically, good website designers will custom-design and build your site with a strong framework foundation to make sure your site is fast, looks great, performs well and delivers results. Scalability is the key to online growth.

    Unfortunately, it can be difficult to know which website designer is the right choice for you. You may know someone who “builds” websites, like a friend or a family member. There are also many website designers out there offering cheap packages - but buyer beware: You get what you pay for.

    The reality is that website design and development is very different to what it was ten years ago. Rapidly evolving technology and high-level skill sets are a must these days. Amateurs may get you a cheap website, but that website may not get you results, and that will costs you money and so much more.

    How to choose the right Web designer

    The process of working with a web designer to build your website is generally going to be (or should be!) as follows:

    Consultation
    The website designer learns about you and gets to know your business, your customers and your ultimate goals. He or she studies your brand image, in both form and practical function. Armed with this information, your web designer can strategise a plan to build the best possible result for you.

    A consultation also helps you and your designer determine the type of website you need for your business, and it assist you on choosing a domain name and the right web hosting for your requirements.

    Technical
    A web designer ensures that domain names are registered, web hosting has been set up and that all platform (CMS) technology is ready for building. He or she can also assist in obtaining any required licenses and SSL certificates.

    Architecture
    Website architecture is the building blueprints of your website, providing a set of instructions for the web designer and developer to follow. It makes sure every element of your website, such as images, navigation, text and layout, is in the proper position before progressing to the bulk of the work of actually building your website.

    Architecture isn’t just about design. It’s closely tied to web development, your online marketing needs, and website optimisation (which we’ll be discussing shortly in this article). Depending on the complexity and scale of your website, web designers may even build a rapid prototype to ensure visitor interactivity functions as expected.

    Design
    Once the website architecture is approved, your creative team begins working on the visual designs for the project. This is sometimes referred to as user interface design.

    Your web designer presents you a series of static images that show how each page of your website will look and ultimately function. These images are the creative, branded portion of your website project, and they’re also usually the most exciting phase as you watch the look of your website evolve!

    Development
    The proper website design that considers usability, technological restrictions and your target market gives your web developer (which could be the same person who created the design) all the visual cues he or she needs to know exactly how to build your website for standards compliance, speed and interactivity.

    Your web developer goes to work on building the “front end” of your website (or what your site visitors will see). Your website is developed into a series of web pages or a development platform, usually a content management system. You’ll be invited to periodically review progress and test features or functionality throughout the process.

    Your website should be built to strict standards that ensure maximum compatibility with various web browser software, and it should be optimised for your web hosting server. Good developers create fast, secure and reliable framework to increase the longevity of your website and maintain search-engine accessibility to correctly index your content.

    What that means is that your web developer makes sure your website operates quickly, smoothly and can be easily found by search engines and ultimately, your visitors.

    Who controls your website?

    Almost all websites today are built with a content management system (or CMS) in mind. Even smaller, static sites are developed with a CMS so that website owners can update content on their own.

    Website software is much like software you install on your computer. It’s just installed on your web hosting server space instead, and integrated into your website. You can typically access your website by visiting a login page and entering a secure username and password.

    A content management system like WordPress or Expression Engine, or an eCommerce management system like Magento allows you to update key areas of your website. You can update text, change the navigation, add new pages, remove old content, update products and process visitor information like forms or product orders.

    Having control of your website content is smart. It lets you save time and money, as you won’t need to hire a professional to make small adjustments on your behalf.

    Step 3 - Going Live!

    Once your website has been developed, passed quality assurance testing and is built to specification, it is time to “go live”! You’re ready to launch your new website and start doing business online.

    Launching & Reviewing

    Now that your website is live and operational, you should monitor it for a short period to see how your visitors manage navigating around the site and accessing the information they want.

    Don’t expect thousands of people to visit your website every day just because it’s live. Only those who know your website exists or those who randomly happen to stumble on your site will visit. This is not such a bad thing (in the begining).

    This slower period gives you a good opportunity to take a close look at how your website performs and make any adjustments that might be needed for when more visitors start coming to your site. While these adjustments may incur additional costs, since they’re typically outside the original scope of your website project, they’re an essential part of having a great site that gets you results. This is also part of ongoing reporting and analytics.

    Analysing for Improvements

    Go ahead; ask people for feedback on your website - the honest kind. Ask existing customers, friends, family and business colleagues to give you their opinion. They’ll generally be open to the question and tell you what they think.
    You could even pay for a user study - and that’s a smart option to consider. User studies involve placing a group of people in a room and asking them to complete a set of tasks or perform actions on your website. The results of having first-time visitors exploring your website are often worth every investment!

    User studies also let you analyse improvements and adjustments you could make before actively marketing your website. Let a few people spot any problems or sticky points, rather than have thousands find them! Also, a user study helps give you peace of mind that every visitor who comes to your website enjoys a rewarding experience online.

    And if the user study results prove positive, and there’s nothing to adjust? Then you know you have a winner.

    Submission to Google, Yahoo! & Bing

    You should now consider submitting your website to major search engines so they can index your content and make your website available in search results. That means when people type a search request into Google, for example, your website may be one of the lucky ones listed in the results.

    Submissions help your website achieve “organic” visitor traffic. Organic traffic means that people find your website naturally, simply by entering a search term, and organic results are very different from those achieved through an active marketing campaign (which we’ll discuss shortly in this article).

    There are ways, though, to increase your exposure and result ranking for organic results. Submission to Google, Yahoo! & Bing is an essential one. You can submit your website to these services yourself, you can hire a trained professional, or it can be included in part of a paid online marketing campaign.

    Of course, while submission to major search engines is very important, it isn’t a magic bullet to online success. You’ll still need to perform marketing campaigns and work on advertising your website, as you would with any business.

    Step 4 - Traffic

    Website traffic means getting people to come to your website through various means, like search engine results, links to your site from other sites, or online advertising. If the Internet is a highway, traffic is the people in cars driving around - and you want them to drive on over to your website!

    Statistically, the more traffic the better, but realistically you want to make sure you get the right kind of traffic: people who are actively seeking the information, services or products your website offers. Having 10,000 visitors does you no good if only one person buys. It’s a better idea to have 10 visitors, and each one becoming your customer.

    This section covers various ways to get traffic moving towards your website. We could write an entire article on every single one of these sections (and we will!), but in this guide, we just want to provide you with basic understanding.

    Keep in mind that each technique listed is very important to your website success. A strategy that includes them all will bring you (and your website) some serious results!

    Word of mouth

    By far, the best way to get people visiting your website is through word of mouth or traditional referrals. Make sure you constantly tell people your domain name at any given chance. Get those business cards out! Include your website domain name in email signatures or blog comments!

    This is one case where the more visitors you have coming to your website, the better. These visitors may not actually be overly interested in your products or services, but they have seen your domain name, identified with what you do, heard your website’s clear message, and may pass on this information to friends, family or business colleagues.

    You may even get lucky. People might post a link to your site on Facebook, Twitter or other types of social networks, and that link might be exposed to a few of the right people… or even thousands of them.

    Search Engine Optimisation

    Search-engine optimisation, commonly called SEO, is the practice of optimising your web pages and site in such a way that it earns good ranking in search engine result listings. This means when people type a search request into Google, your website has a better chance of appearing higher up on the list of results. The higher up your site is on the list, the more likely it is that people will see your website.

    The SEO process begins during initial development of your website and continues well after deployment and adjustments are made.

    SEO techniques include integrating the most commonly used keywords of search requests in your website content, as well as including those keywords in your website’s meta tag. A meta tag is a little piece of code at the top of a website page. It’s hidden from visitor view but tells a search engine exactly what’s in your website content so that the search engine can list your site correctly in search engine results.

    SEO isn’t just about getting good results with search engines. It’s also about having great content and page copy (text), as well as having a site with good, clean code to make the web pages load faster and function better in web browsers. All of this comes together to get better rankings with search engines.

    Link-building

    Link-building is one of the most important factors to achieve good search engine result rankings. As well as ranking websites based on good content and clean code, they rank websites according to general popularity of websites on the Internet. Basically, if many people like your site, it tends to rank better in search engine results.

    Search engines measure popularity through inbound links. Inbound links are when other people add a link to their site that points to yours. The more inbound links your website has, the better. It’s even better when you have higher-ranked websites pointing to yours.

    It pays to have a good link-building strategy. There are many ways to go about getting links pointing to your website, such as paid links through advertising, reciprocal linking (they add yours; you add theirs) and syndicated content (websites republish the published content on your site and link back to your original content).

    Search Engine Advertising

    The most common and well-known form of search engine advertising is called Pay-per-Click, or PPC, advertising. This is exactly what it sounds like: Each time a person clicks on a link to visit your website, you pay the service displaying the link for that click.

    All major search engines like Yahoo!, Google and Bing offer PPC services, so you can advertise your website on their search result pages in a prominent, well-positioned location. Your PPC advertisement also appears on other web pages running advertising programmes with these search engines. You only pay for clicks and not per the number of times the ad displays on the pages.

    PPC works, because ads are targeted for people already seeking your product or service online. For example, John signs up for PPC ads with Google. When a visitor types “sydney cake maker” into a Google search, the search results page may show John’s advertisement in a prominent location. The visitor sees exactly what he’s looking for in John’s ad, and if he clicks the link in the ad to visit John’s website, he’s considered targeted traffic, a visitor that’s already looking for what John’s site sells.

    (Note: John’s website might also show up in the search results list Google returns to the person because of SEO techniques for organic traffic.  The searcher may see both the organic results and John’s PPC ad - the more exposure, the better!)

    The benefit of using PPC is that it allows you to create almost-instant targeted traffic to your site. New websites take time to rank well in search engine results, but PPC has the potential of giving you instant sales.

    Unlike organic search listings, you control the information visitors see and where the visitor is directed to on your website, such as a specific sales page you want that person to read.

    Another benefit to PPC advertising is the opportunity to tap into international exposure. Organic search listings vary in different geographical regions. With PPC, you control where your ad gets seen.

    You’ll typically set up your PPC on your own (thought you can hire professionals to carry out PPC campaigns for you). You can define how much you want to spend for each click, and you can select keywords, keyword phrases, keyword groups, or categories in which you want your advertisements to appear. Also, you control the traffic of your PPC campaign and can turn traffic on or off.

    Advertisers willing to spend the most money for a relevant advertisement are generally listed first, but Google’s PPC ranking system assesses CPC (cost per click), ad relevance, click-through rate, and daily budget, so the order in which ads appear on their search result pages is based on a number of factors.

    Social Media Advertising

    Until recently, search engines were big players in the online advertising market, but social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube etc are breaking into offering their own advertising programmes. These can be as equally important as search engine advertising.

    Social media advertising guarantees targeted ads, making sure the right people see your advertisements. Generally, you’ll have better advertising options and opportunities, like dedicated landing pages, fan pages, groups and more. Features are also typically very interactive, and it’s almost like having a mini-website of your own on the network - only with a potential connection to thousands or even millions of users.

    If you’re starting a new business online, consider it essential to integrate social media as part of your online marketing strategy. Include Facebook fan pages and groups, Twitter notifications and even YouTube videos into your plan - and each can be easily integrated into your website as well!

    Step 5 - Into the Future

    Once your website is established and optimised and once you’ve worked on link-building and maybe dabbled in paid advertising and social networking, it’s time to think about your future.

    This section is all about generating traffic from new visitors. You need to have your site visited and hopefully browser-bookmarked by a potential customer, but you also need to keep reminding these potential customers to come back again and again.

    In the fast-paced world of the Internet, the old saying “out of sight, out of mind” often rings very true.

    Email Marketing

    Email marketing is possibly one of the best (if not the best) way for you to stay in contact with your website visitors. Also known as permission marketing, email marketing lets you receive people’s explicit permission to contact them for reasons associated with the services or products you offer. They are a targeted prospect for your business, and they offer a greater chance of becoming a lead for a sale or even a customer.

    

    Email marketing goes far, far beyond the simple Outlook contact list. In fact, this method of online marketing has evolved in leaps and bounds over the last few years. (And we’ll note, so have the local federal laws and regulations regarding sending email and SPAM messages.)

    Email has come a long way. Today, you can create email that includes design, graphics, and interactive features. Unfortunately, not all email content displays the same on every computer screen, so make sure that your emails have a nice layout and carefully designed to ensure that each recipient sees the same content, in the same format, and without errors.

    One mistake could mean missing an important sale or visit to your website.

    Measuring the results of your email marketing campaign and newsletters is also very important. A good email campaign service lets you send and manage your subscriber list, as well as measure how many people have opened your email or clicked on links within the messages. You can also schedule automated deliveries of emails to occur on certain dates and at specific times.

    To have people subscribe and accept to receive emails from you, your website must include an area where visitors can enter their email address and other information you can request. This information is captured and stored in a database that you can sort and manage.

    You can also obtain verbal permission to add people to your subscriber lists. When you meet people at social gatherings, networking functions or anywhere else, it’s a good idea to get the green light to make further contact with them.

    Subscribers must always have the ability to unsubscribe from your mailing list and stop receiving emails. These subscribers also have the ability to unsubscribe at anytime by visiting a link in one of the emails you send them.

    Be careful, too. There are many legal ramifications for those who abuse the power of email marketing.

    Building Relationships

    Just as you build relationships offline by interacting and keeping in contact with customers, you can do the same online. The best way to build online relationships, other than by offering fresh and exciting new content to your website on a regular basis, is social networking.

    Your website is an interactive presence that visitors can enjoy 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and right from the comfort of their home, office or even on the go via mobile devices. You can offer a richer, more engaging experience to people by tapping into social networking websites on a regular basis.

    Social networking websites allow you to link right into their content, effectively letting you add your account updates to your own website or post them from your website back to your account, offering a 2-way content management solution.
    Have your website developer tie Facebook or Twitter into your website so that new material you add to your website automatically displays on your account page or vice-versa. This effectively cuts down your content management tasks in half!

    

    Facebook
    Create a fan page and offer people interesting and unique ways for them to become involved with your business. You can create applications that let people better engage with your products and services. You can keep in touch with your potential clients via your status updates, or you can offer them videos, photos and more.

    YouTube
    You can use the power of YouTube to keep your customers interested and informed. Add how-to videos of your products and services, or post video reviews or installation guides. Create a simple video using your digital camera and introduce people to your storefront, your office or your services. You’d be surprised at how much people like to watch short videos!

    Twitter
    You may have already heard about Twitter, and with good reason. Twitter is very popular, and it’s now tied into major search engines. The service allows you to post status updates instantly, letting friends, family and potential customers know what you’re doing at the moment. You can even engage people in conversation on Twitter - as long as your sentences measure 140 characters or less!

    You can use Twitter from your web browser, from your mobile phone and even from your own website (with a little web developer help). Twitter is the perfect way to post news, links to articles and stay in touch with customers worldwide.

    Social networking works, providing you stick with it, and it’s simple to use. Update your accounts as often as possible and continue to enjoy the power of cross marketing social networking offers.

    Best of all, accounts with social networking websites are free!

    Bricks and Mortar

    Everything you do offline should be echoed online, and vice versa. Truthfully, setting up an online presence is not very different from setting up a bricks-and-mortar business. Some of the tools may be different, the landscape may be different, but the business-building principles remain the same.

    Market your website at every opportunity, and consider it the first point of contact for all your new business prospects. Remember that a website allows you to provide people with a great deal of information, and the more informative content you provide, the greater the chance of converting a visitor into a customer.

    One great advantage of getting your business online is that you can make it 100% portable, allowing you to do business from anywhere in the world, any time you’d like. Just because you have a bricks-and-mortar business or you’ve created an office for your online business to work from doesn’t mean you need to spend all your nights and days there.

    Software solutions called SaaS (Software as a Service) offer you customer relationship, scheduling, planning, sales tools and more, and they’re all cost effective and easy to use, letting you take your business with you everywhere.

    Many of these SaaS solutions also connect with each other so you can link up your administrative systems, from customer accounts to project management to invoicing to payroll.

    So go ahead and knock down those physical walls with a new website for your business - but remember to leave one standing. You’ll need it so you can hang all the certificates of achievements you’ll earn!

    This guide was written by Steve Barrett for Emotech, a website design and development firm operating from Adelaide, South Australia. Permission is given to reproduce this content with credits to the author and a link back to http://www.emotech.com.au.

    30:10:2009 | Startup Guides +

13. Facebook Fan Pages for Business

    22:10:2009 | Online Marketing + Social Networking +

    

    The Facebook social media site started out as a website for college kids to connect, but it soon became one of the most important business tools out there today. We do not want to get to much into this, but you can read more here: Facebook – The Complete Biography.

    Want to take a hint from some of the biggest names in business? Get yourself a Facebook Fan page if you want to start getting more customers and developing more loyalty among your current ones.

    How Do I Set Up a Fan Page?

    Facebook makes it easy to set up a fan page - just as easy as a regular personal profile. When you set up a business account, you’ll see a tab for advertising. From there, you can create a Fan page, where you will enter in the basics of your business’ information (your name, your location, what you do, etc.).

    

    Fill in all of the requested fields! Facebook pages are fantastic for Google results, so you want to choose your words carefully and make sure you give your customers as much information as possible so it’s easy to find you via search engines.

    Your basic Fan page, once completed, will have a Wall where customers can leave comments, a newsfeed where you can post links to business-related material like new blogs posts or promotions, photos, videos, and a list of your fans. You can even link an external site into facebook, so data is automatically updated with little effort (like using rss feeds).

    Ensure you do not neglect your photos or video pages either; they’re a chance to get creative and perhaps start a viral video. Coca-Cola, for example, has a series of videos submitted by its fans featuring innovative ways to open a Coke can.

    How Do I Promote Myself?

    Once you have your basic page set up, start looking through the Facebook Application Directory for promotional tools to add to your page.

    Don’t limit yourself, though. Facebook allows you to create your own design and applications, and these are the things that make you stand out from your competition. It’s worth the money you will invest.

    The more creative, the better! Red Bull invented an application based on geo-hunting, where its customers can hunt down cans of Red Bull hidden throughout the United States. People who have never even tried Red Bull still enjoy the hunt – and they might convert to customers when they find their victorious can.

    Once you have an exciting application in place, promote it through your Facebook page, your blog, and mailing list. You can also pay for advertising on Facebook. Its specialised advertising service seeks out your target demographic based on their Facebook information and targets its ads specifically to your market. Send out ads that encourage new customers to become fans to participate in your applications.

    

    These advertising tools also come with their own powerful reporting system, so if you like numbers, there are plenty to put your eyes over.

    

    How Do I Get New Fans?

    First, start off with your existing fans. Send an email to your current customer base and let them know you have a Facebook fan page you’d like them to join. Send them a link and offer an incentive like product discounts or “freebies”.

    Once you have those customers on your fan page, you have done half the work. All your customers who signed up to be fans will have a post appear in their Facebook newsfeed asking if their friends would like to become fans too. And you will find many of them will!

    You can also directly ask people to become fans if they’re your friends on your regular Facebook application. The reason almost all people become fans is because a friend of theirs became a fan first - and there is no reason you should not be the origin of that snowball effect.

    What Should I Say?

    Follow the cues of your fans. Some big names don’t even say a word on their Facebook page. When you do talk to your fans, keep the tone casual and friendly - this is social media, after all - but for the most part, let your fans drive the conversation. You’ll find they’ll actually give you the tools you need to generate a bigger customer base.

    For example, Coca-Cola didn’t even start its own fan page - its customers did, and they simply asked to add some of their own applications and presence to help facilitate things. When their fans ask for new applications or tools, Coke responds promptly, and they usually earn even more fans by doing so.

    This is also how Pizza Hut came up with the idea to offer delivery through a Facebook application. Listen to your fans; they’ll tell you how to expand your customer base beyond your wildest dreams.

    Ready to get started? Head on over to Facebook and sign up. It’s easy and it’s free - and that’s the best kind of marketing tool you can put to work for your business.

    22:10:2009 | Online Marketing + Social Networking +

14. Vincent Brothers Launch

    13:10:2009 | Emotech News + Emotech Projects +

    Visit the brother’s new Web site at www.vincentandvincent.com.au (go on, they have some Seriously cool jackets).

    “Despite things running out of steam in the middle and getting rocky at the end, we’ve sung no end of praises for your efforts and the result that was achieved. Most of all, it’s a brilliant platform (magento ecommerce) to continue on from. Right now we’re clearing past-season stock, but in March 2010 we’ll have a whole new collection, and with it will come a whole new identity.”

    
    

    13:10:2009 | Emotech News + Emotech Projects +

15. Empire of the Sun - Without You

    10:09:2009 | Most Excellent +

    10:09:2009 | Most Excellent +

16. The Hurt Locker

    25:06:2009 | Site Analysis +

    Visit the Web site at http://www.thehurtlocker-movie.com
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    25:06:2009 | Site Analysis +

17. WordPress – The No-Compromise CMS for your Small Business

    11:06:2009 | Technology +

    Small businesses have huge potential over the internet, many small businesses have successfully grown into medium scale enterprises online over the past decade by making the best of open source software and community support. Small businesses usually cater to customers who are looking for authentic niche products that are not mass produced. The internet provides small businesses the opportunity to expand by catering to clients from across the globe, some local businesses have grown multi fold since they opened a website and began offering their products and services online.
    
    Local businesses have been able to expand by roping in new business from customers living in far flung areas of their town since they went online. However, small businesses in general are known to operate on a very low budget and if you are a small business owner, cost cutting is probably on the top of your financial objectives. To own a website for a small business might mean adding costs like design and development of the website, and recurring costs like web hosting, search engine optimisation and maintenance. Apart from these costs there are initial investment costs such as a professional content management system and a shopping cart if you are planning on selling your products or services online. Drontal is a live example of a WordPress business website, showcasing its various benefits.
    
    Lowering operating costs does not necessarily mean compromising on offerings. Professional content management systems might cost a bomb towards operational costs, but you have the option to make use of an open source CMS like WordPress. Yes, WordPress is not just one of the most widely used and leading software for Blogging but it is being used as a complete CMS system by many small scale businesses. You do not need a webmaster to update the content of a WordPress website as the advanced text editor integrates fresh content seamlessly into the existing website creating new pages as and when required. NextBusNews.com is another small business WordPress site that displays real-time when the next MUNI bus will arrive. Associate Professor JP Allen, University of San Francisco, explains how NextBus uses WordPress as a simple CMS solution at Web Helper Magazine.
    
    With WordPress you also save on recurring costs like search engine optimisation (SEO) and Support. According to Matt Cuts, besides simplifying small business content management requirements WordPress is made to do SEO well, and with thousands of developers involved and many more blogging about WordPress, help is just a Google search away. At Emotech, we design, develop and cater to small business, primarily making use of WordPress as a content management and publishing system. We developed a new theme which looks like a website and works like one too. WordPress not only have CMS advantages, it is easy to work with and has amazing SEO benefits
    
    If you are still using one of those age old CMSs, it’s about time you switch to WordPress and substantially lower your online operating costs.
    
    
    

    11:06:2009 | Technology +

18. Twitter for eCommerce

    21:05:2009 | eCommerce + Online Marketing + Social Networking +

    The frequency of new ideas and methods for eCommerce would put any industry to shy. One innovation after another makes its way in and by the end of the year, most make their way out. So what is it with this new social player called Twitter? And is it about time for you to start thinking about Twitter for eCommerce?

    Many organisations are using Twitter to reach out to their customers, from small news services to Fortune 500 companies, everyone seems to have found a purpose for Twitter. Dell and Southwest Airlines are on Twitter, Woot.com and Amazon.com are using twitter too. While Dell Twitters to respond to customer questions, Southwest uses Twitter as a Customer Service Vehicle. They are all using Twitter to drive sales!

    If used with a plan, Twitter for eCommerce can help drive sales for you too, you can also use it as a tool to listen to your existing customer base and create a personality for your business, to improve your customer service or to subtly push sales messages every now and then. You can use twitter for eCommerce in a way that suits your business and no matter how you choose to use twitter, you will only benefit from an overall increase in sales.

    • Add a personality to your business
    • Manage the online reputation of your business
    • Create brand awareness and brand loyalty
    • Create hype for your products and services
    • Send Micro Press Releases
    • Drive Traffic to your websites and blogs
    • Get feedback on your planned, existing and previous offerings
    • Announce your new offers

    Twitter is not as time consuming as other social networks. It would take you less than ten minutes a day to use twitter for eCommerce successfully, reflect after a month or two on the results and you will be surprised to see the sales you were missing out on.

     

    21:05:2009 | eCommerce + Online Marketing + Social Networking +

19. Catalogue Management with Magento

    19:05:2009 | eCommerce + Technology +

    In the past decade, eCommerce has taken the traditional commercial practices by surprise with its flexibility and accessibility. Traditional bricks and mortat businesses are now finding ways to be a part of the internet bandwagon and are learning techniques from the internet that are useful in conducting business, traditionally offline. Online shopping carts have lead the path to substantial growth of business on the internet, there are millions of people doing business online and online sales are in the billions. A business owner, regardless of the scale of operation can now use an eCommerce platform like Magento to start selling a product online with little or no technical knowledge at all.
    
    A lot has been talked about Magento, how it is the best open source and free eCommerce platform available online and how its new enterprise edition is all set to dethrone the existing leaders in eCommerce software, but not much has been said about its impressive list of features that make it a great product. Magento is not just a shopping cart, it is also a fully featured catalogue management utility. A good catalogue can do wonder for your business and goodwill.
    
    A catalogue contains all the information a buyer would be looking for before making a purchase. Catalogues are used by online business just as they are used by a merchant who owns a store around in your local area. When a customer makes a purchase online, research shows that a product on sale with an accompanying photograph and lots of details sells better. Catalogues designed carefully can not only boost your sales but also create a good rapport with visitors who are tired of searching for more information about the product they are interested in. Most of these visitors are prospective customers looking for information like colour choices, sizes available and special features before clicking on “Buy it now”.
    
    From the list of features currently available in Magento, Catalogue Management stands out as a gem in terms of usability, practicality and ease of use. Powerful catalogue management options give Magento an edge over its competitors. Magento catalogue management makes it fairly simple to create and manage as many catalogues as you like. Magento also makes it possible to maintain multiple stores, if you have multiple businesses online or would like to get into a new business you can make use of Magento’s catalogue management system to easily create two or more stores and manage the catalogues for all the stores from one account only unlike with other eCommerce software which require you to create separate accounts for each store. There are several features that make Magento such a great catalogue management utility and 17/18 of these features are available in the FREE community edition.
    
    If you do not want to offer online purchasing, but still make your product database available in detail to your client's, Magento is the solution for you. And the major benefit is its highly scalabale nature, a few simple updates and your online catalogue can be transformed into and powerful online store, ready to sell for you 365 days of the year.
    

    19:05:2009 | eCommerce + Technology +

20. Emotech awarded Never End Retail Gallery web site project

    24:04:2009 | Emotech News + Emotech Projects +

    Keep an eye out for http://www.neverend.com

    

    

    24:04:2009 | Emotech News + Emotech Projects +

21. Magento – The eCommerce Platform for Growth

    02:04:2009 | eCommerce + Technology +

    Open source software has always played second to its commercial counterpart, until products like Magento come forward. With over 750,000 downloads it is widely accepted and considered to be better than some of the commercial eCommerce platforms. Emotech has been implementing Magento commercially since its official download counter crossed the 500,000 mark in 2008 (http://www.magentocommerce.com/blog/comments/magento-reaches-500000-downloads-1/), and secondly when it got attention from the Wall Street Journal (http://kara.allthingsd.com/category/magento/). It’s now available in more than 60 different languages and boasts of community that is 100,000+ members strong.

    For a $0 price tag for the Community Edition (open source licence), it packs a punch powerful enough to knock-out most commercial eCommerce platforms. Magento boasts a few features that would put most commercial products to shame. It is a complete package in itself, with features like marketing and promotional and tools, site and catalog management, options for customer accounts and mobile commerce make it a perfect option to start your eCommerce business.

    

    Magento is used equally by small scale as well as medium to large scale eCommerce web sites. It’s a free, entry level, easy to install and use package for a small scale business and a power packed, feature rich package for medium to large scale online eCommerce operations. Magento has the freedom and flexibility of open source and the class and sophistication of a commercial product, it’s a great combination of both the worlds.

    Magento has recently released Magento Enterprise Edition. Many small and medium scale eCommerce sites have upgraded to the Enterprise Edition and reaped the benefits. It boasts almost every feature imaginable for a serious online business operation. It provides the freedom to migrate from free edition when the need arises and their Enterprise-Exclusive features like Advanced Administrator Roles, Otions for Virtual and Physical Gift Cards, a solid SLA and Product Guarantee are worth the annual price tag.

    

    Magento was placed to be the de-facto standard for shopping carts and aimed to replace osCommerce at the open source helm. With the progress they have made so far, they are right on track and with the Enterprise Edition they have rightly turned quite a few heads.

     

    02:04:2009 | eCommerce + Technology +

22. Emotech awarded Vincent Brothers web site contract

    28:02:2009 | Emotech News + Emotech Projects +

    Launching mid 2009. Keep an eye out for this one at http://www.vincentandvincent.com.au
    

    28:02:2009 | Emotech News + Emotech Projects +

23. Emotech To The Levitators

    24:10:2008 | @delaide + Emotech News + Emotech Projects +

    The band has no particular influences, though some aspects of the Levitators are comparable to The Propeller heads, The Prodigy, Chemical Bros, Massive attack and even The Doors. The intense energy, tightness of the rhythm section, improvisation and mastery of dynamics helps the Levitators in creating their own, distinct sound.

    Continue reading: Emotech To The Levitators.

    24:10:2008 | @delaide + Emotech News + Emotech Projects +

24. Ken Ishii - Game Over

    20:08:2008 | Most Excellent +

     

    20:08:2008 | Most Excellent +

25. Cool Hunter

    19:08:2008 | Site Analysis +

    Bill Tikos likes cool things. In fact, he likes cool things so much he started www.coolhunter.com.au just to prove it.

    The Cool Hunter celebrates creativity in all of its modern manifestations. We are a leading online publication and an upmarket hub for what is the most creative, the most innovative, the newest, best and coolest. We value global relevance, not global trends, channeling what we find to our worldwide audience.

    A winner of the Webblog Awards 2007, Cool Hunter has over half a million monthly readers (and we are just seven of them) and is generating 1.4 million page views.

    The Cool Hunter is not a trend-spotter, trend-watcher, trend consultant or trend predictor. We select and celebrate what is beautiful and enduring from all that is sought-after in architecture, design, gadgets, lifestyle, urban living, fashion, travel and pop culture. We remain relevant by staying ahead of and outside of trends and fads — the fickle shifts in taste and style. The Cool Hunter digs deeper, finding tomorrow’s icons and classic phenomena. We are a prized reference point of choice for a global creative community.

    

    19:08:2008 | Site Analysis +

26. Facebook Named World’s Top Social Networking Web Site

    14:08:2008 | Social Networking +

    SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook has overtaken MySpace to become the world’s most popular social networking site with 132 million unique visitors in June, according to new figures from web tracking firm ComScore.

    The study found that Facebook’s visitor growth far outpaced that of MySpace, with Facebook visits up 153 percent on an annual basis, compared to just three percent growth for MySpace. Other social networks showing strong global growth include Hi5 (100 per cent) Friendster (50 per cent), Orkut (41 per cent) and Bebo (32 per cent).

    Comscore said Facebook grew 38 per cent in the US, where it had 49 million visitors in June.

    The strongest growth was Latin America, where Facebook’s visitors grew by 1055 per cent. The number of European visitors tripled to 35 million a month, while growth in the Middle East and Africa was 400 per cent. In the Asia Pacific region visitors increased 458 per cent.

    “Facebook has done an exceptional job of leveraging its brand internationally during the past year. By increasing the site’s relevance to local markets through local language interface translation, the site is now competing strongly or even capturing the lead in several markets where it had a relatively minor presence just a year ago.”

    ComScore executive Jack Flanagan said in a statement from the company.

    Comscore said the dizzying increases were helped by Facebook’s tiny global presence prior to its recent initiative to translate the site into other languages. A year ago, it had only one million unique visits a month in all of Latin America, three million in the Middle East and Africa, and four million in all of Asia Pacific. Flanagan said international expansion was now the main target for the major social networking sites.

    “While the social networking trend first took off in North America, it is beginning to reach a point of maturity in the region. however, the phenomenon is still growing rapidly in other regions around the world - especially as the established American brands turn their focus to developing markets.”

    14:08:2008 | Social Networking +

27. so you think i cant dance?

    14:08:2008 | Emotech Projects +

    
    
    

    14:08:2008 | Emotech Projects +

28. Player One - Space Invaders (1980)

    01:08:2008 | Most Excellent +

     

    01:08:2008 | Most Excellent +

29. Limes Hotel

    18:07:2008 | Brand Design +

    North east of Brisbane’s CBD is something very special indeed. Carved amongst the famous Fortitude Valley hub, The Limes Hotel  features 21 rooms to cater for the independent traveller, Limes rejects the 5-star norms opting to focus on guests’ primary travel requirements in styled lodgings.

    Guestrooms offer wired and wireless broadband net access and best of all… ITS FREE for guests to use during their stay. Rooms also feature 32inch LCD television with Foxtel, an iPod docks plus the very cool roof top movie cinema overlooking Brisbane is a fresh twist on the cinematic outing experience.

    

    Limes Hotel, designed by Alexander Lotersztain also happens to be the very first Australian member of Design Hotels.

    

    18:07:2008 | Brand Design +

30. The Original Human TETRIS Performance by Guillaume Reymond

    15:12:2007 | Most Excellent +

     

    15:12:2007 | Most Excellent +

31. The Original Human SPACE INVADERS Performance

    28:02:2007 | Most Excellent +

     

    28:02:2007 | Most Excellent +