Beginnings of new site

Martin — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 22:29:33 +0000

Well over the weekend I was able to code up the first page of my new concept…

You can see it here, on its beta page.

Now I ‘just’ have to do the category and archive pages and hook it into WordPress. Not done this from scratch before, so is a bit of a challenge. I also need to get the Twitter and Flickr APIs plugged into the front page too so it gets updated dynamically.

Second Wednesday Meeting

Martin — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 22:21:34 +0000

Had a nice, educational time tonight at the monthly web industry meet

Tonight I went to ‘Second Wednesday‘, the monthly web industry social gathering in Nottingham, held at Broadway Media Centre. We had a talk from lecturer Derek O’Brien about CSS3 and HTML5 and how/when to start using them and inevitable compatibility pitfalls! It was a very good breif overview of the full, verbose extent of these new standards, and was cirtainly interesting fuel for debate.

My feeling is that CSS3 really does have some exciting features we need to get using as soon as possible, and as soon as the bottom end of the userbase (those running old browsers) drops-out. Gradients, shadows and animatiton without script will become so lightweight! The distributers of browsers really need to get heavy handed with those running older browsers, making it very difficult to stay with a deprecated browser.

HTML5, however, I think is more of a hard-sell. I’m not convinced of its value just yet, cirtainly as far as the new XML-style attributes go such as

and

which are essentially common div IDs with standardised names! The SVG part of the spec is very exciting though as it cuts out the need for bitmap images to load, and with Google now favouring lightweight websites, it’s a welcome new toy.

I think for now, the main benefit will be for SEO and telling the crawler what some content is. Full ubiquity isnt expected until around 2020 apparently anyway (if users of the next decade are anything like those of the last!), but it’ll inevitably become commonplace much sooner by those experimenting with the new features.

A very informative evening, and it was great to be engaged by others who love to talk about these things!

Exponential mk2 Printed :D

Martin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:28:12 +0000

As mentioned in a previous post, I made a new Exponential logo recently. Anyway, it’s arrived — I was looking forward to seeing it!

I’m well-pleased with it…now I wanna make loads more!

The Future of SEO?

Martin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 00:53:34 +0000

The game might soon be changing for search optimisation…

I was reading with interest in this week’s Marketing Week. A very interesting article detailing the recent developments in ‘social search’, and brands now focusing more on ensuring that their marketing activity includes blogs and social media, since Google is now increasing the importance of this user generated content and social media activity in ranking your site. Thanks for the huge rise in mobile search and publishing, Google now ranks tweets among the usual search results, so clearly, the definition of ‘relevancy’ is shifting.

The strategy of the week for marketers now appears to be that instead of competing for search supremacy, they’re trying to target the influencers, making them ‘brand advocates’ using social media at a more grassroots level, according to the article. That’s quite an audacious strategy, as we already know that using social media as a non-value-added one-way marketing channel is bound to fail, and slam your reputation.

What’s more concerning, though, isn’t these changes in what’s ranked, but something somewhat outside the brand’s control. A site’s ranking will soon differ depending on who searches! Google is now moving search along a step further in its relentless quest for relevancy.
Just as we thought Google wasn’t getting more scary, the search algorithm now analyses the activity of an individual users’ social profiles and past search history, and uses this as a heuristic to make a guess at what it thinks you’re looking for. So a site’s ranking cannot be consistent or absolute anymore. Bad news for SEO consultants.
The crucial thing is that search optimisation and ranking are being brought closer to the whole business strategy itself; on-line marketing strategy will just become the strategy, perhaps finally closing the disparity.

Of course, there are upsides and downsides, depending on who you are.

This could mean that only people who are actually interested in your product or brand will find your site, indeed if it’s optimised and if Google ‘guesses’ correctly and lets you see it!
I would expect this kind of intelligent search to become more accurate over time, perhaps harnessing crowd intelligence of many users terms to help the process.
So that should surely mean a better conversion rate, and better relevancy for a more narrow set of key words. It’s great for consumers as one would find what they’re looking for more quickly.

However, it could mean that businesses who are entirely internet-based, may need to go as far as revising their very strategy, becoming more focused in exactly the market they’re aimed at or the products they stock; it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to expect a reduced amount of traffic for a poorly-focused marketing strategy.

Rolling with it…

As I said, this could be bad news for SEO consultancies, who may soon have much-reduced control over a site’s exposure. Perhaps the scope of their job needs to change instead if they’re to remain relevant in future.

Businesses have to innovate to stay ahead, and if they don’t, someone else will, and it just so happens that Google has changed the game a little in this case, soon forcing marketers and SEO people to adapt.
How? Well SEO people may now have to redefine their role to be broader social media and on-line strategy consultants, ensuring their clients are represented in search results of a more specific nature and based on the new metrics of social media activity, and narrowed relevancy. A significant challenge to an already-arcane art, likely to spawn a new generation of ‘gurus’.

Google have become the driving force of innovation in user experience on-line, evolving their search product as the content on-line changes; and now in their quest for relevancy, they’ve changed the rules for what defines ‘relevant’ and given on-line marketers something else to think about when it comes to optimising their site.

New Aerial-Force.co.uk done

Martin — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 17:36:05 +0000

I’ve been working on a site for a local Nottingham digital aerials company. It’s now on-line!

…after encountering the issue of limited web server features (ie, no php support) I had to adjust the code and couldn’t use a contact form. I reluctantly opted for just an email link cloaked by javascript. It’s just a small site to replace the old one, and we’re already seeing pleasing results on Google Analytics!

Anyway, it’s now online at Aerial Force.

My next project is a new site for a Nottingham mobile disco business.

Lake District Trip

Martin — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:17:24 +0000

Photo Day!

Been pretty busy today – went out with the dogs to Wollaton park — took loads of pics, and I’ve taken the opportunity to sort through the Lake District pics.
Spent the evening playing with Lightroom. Why must I insist on shooting in RAW?! It’s worth it though, even if it does eat disc space!
I have been making some of my first HDR images too – it’s amazing how varied the results are, and they can be made from a single RAW file with equally good results.
The photos are from the Ambleside region. High Street Mt. in Hartsop and Helm Cragg near Grasmere.
Here’s some of my faves:

Martin’s Sunday

Martin — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:15:58 +0000

In an attempt to make my own entertainment for lack of anyone else to help, I decided to go to Nottingham centre to have a proper play with my new camera.

I’m now understanding how F/numbers work and how aperture size needs to be compensated by shutter speed etc. I’m now getting it…but still trying to figure out how to take a long exposure in daylight with a camera which only goes down to F/22 without complete whiteout. n00b!

I went to the Nottingham Contemporary to see the ‘Star City’ exhibition. It was all a bit odd. Got some fairly interesting pics, but it was all a bit too post-modern. Had a walk around the Lace Market while I was at it.

It’s so odd walking around Nottingham and actually noticing stuff, as you do when looking for photo opportunities. Normally, the nuanced character of Notts city centre passes one by, until you stop to notice it.
I stopped caring about the potential for people to try to steal my camera…it’s not really a threat. If someone tried, they’d be the ones in danger, anyway. When one walks around a city purely to look for photos, one feels like they’re not participating in what everyone else is doing – you’re there in a different context!

I filled up my memory card with RAWs, so I look forward to going over them, and getting frustrated because I’m not brave enough to get the more risky shots.

Honda’s not so ‘Green’

Martin — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:35:41 +0000

I don’t know how many others were in Honda’s most recent direct marketing campaign, but it struck me as incredible hypocrisy!

“Start with the small stuff, Honda”

Put it this way, there’s no way I’m in a position to buy a brand new car, and won’t be for some considerable time, yet Honda still deemed me an appropriate target for a significantly-sized mail-out telling me about their green initiatives and eco-friendly range of sensible cars.

Indeed I have been looking at cars recently, but second-hand, immature cars with big engines — no idea how Honda knew I was in the market for one, but they need to look at green marketing before they expend so much on green engineering!
The mail-out (pictured) was of substantial weight and quantity, and was made of quite a thick paper. Suffice to say, it’s of no use to me, and so will go straight into recycling (after ogling the Type-R!).

My point?
Surely their endless investment in efficient engines is totally undermined if they are completely inept at targeting their direct marketing properly. All that waste paper and resources comes at huge carbon cost — more, I bet, than they can ever hope to offset with their ‘eco’ engines.

Something tells me that their ‘eco’ image is only skin-deep, and does not apply to their fundamental business processes.

Start with the small stuff, Honda, if you want to be a ‘green’ company.

I’m now going to recycle this.

New Shiny Thing

Martin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:17:22 +0000

Wooo…I finally got my new toy. My first proper D-SLR camera.

It’s a Nikon D3000. OK so it’s not a top-line one, but it’s still a decent entry model to the world of SLRs.

I’m a bit scared of it – it does stuff my old Fuji didn’t, so I need to take it out and play with it…but so far, it’s brilliant. It’s great not having any noise on indoor shots!
I look forward to taking this baby to the Lake District, France, Edinburgh and around Nottingham this year!

End of an era for 5Live nights

Martin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:50:42 +0000

Yesterday was pretty amazing. I was lucky enough to be invited to the last ever Richard Bacon show on 5Live – possibly the best show on radio. Nobody seems to know about it though! Bacon invited 200 loyal members of the ‘SHH’ down to BBC Radio Theatre, London.

The Guardian wrote a nice article to offer some explanation for the uninitiated. Nobody seems to understand why I made such a pilgrimage from Nottingham for a radio show. It required meticulous planning and a night with no sleep, but it was such an experience. It was quite an odd, surreal experience spending the evening on oneself in London before driving back in the early hours.
We were each presented with the much-coveted ‘Special Half Hour’ badge as we entered the radio theatre and I was co-incidentally sat next to not only Olly Mann of ‘Answer Me This’ podcast fame, but a chap from the same area as me. Also sat nearby was Quentin Wilson and Ash Atalla, Producer of The Office.

We had a discussion about whether or not it’s ok to steal from supermarkets if you’re poor, and the night culminated in a funeral for the Special Half Hour (‘SHH’ when mentioned outside of the time slot). We sang Jerusalem to mark the show’s passing. It was, as always, difficult to interpret the true tone of the show, the genuinity of the fans and the sincerity of the presenters. It’s a typically British phenomenon that we treat everything with an undertone of humour and slight wry sarcasm. We, the English can be serious, but never genuinely earnest — a quality that separates us from our fat cousins across the pond.
I did find that not only is Richard Bacon very Alan Partridge-esque in real life, but as some listeners have said before, very self-indulgent. He is apparently not modest about his radio empire at all – with millions of followers on Twitter and thousands in the Special Half Hour facebook group. He likes to cmmand us to cheer or clap and does tend to boast at any opportunity.

We’ve become something of a cult, now destined to be disbanded; the SHH consigned to fade from our collective memory.
At least we all now have our ‘SHH’ badges to remember the last 14 months or so of enjoying this short-lived, but brilliant show. 10pm-1am will never be the same again; I now have to listen to some guy I’ve never heard of. It has been a true honour and a privilege.

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