For as simple as twitter is, the complexity of using it is nothing short of astounding. Many people strictly update twitter via the web with nothing more than an account of their daily activities. Some “power users” have people that tweet for them, and some even have bots set up that removes the human aspect altogether. Then there’s the issue of the auto-dm. Many users rely on scripted messages to be sent when someone new follows them. Often impersonal and down right cheesy, the auto-dm makes many of us cringe upon receiving them. An extension of this inhuman activity is the use of TwitterFeed, a service that connects RSS feeds to twitter accounts. Users can pull feeds related to their interests and audience and auto-post them on Twitter. TwitterFeed is great when used to pull in your company’s blog posts or entries from your personal site. The problem is that many users rely on this entirely too much and will – Read the full article
Monday kicked off with a bang as it was announced social network giant Facebook acquired social aggregating site FriendFeed. If you’re unfamiliar with FriendFeed, the free service allows users to add their activity from across the social web and aggregates the activity into one stream. You can follow other people’s streams, much like Twitter. You can also create custom groups to better follow those you care about. So what does this mean? For one, FriendFeed had already influenced changes in Facebook. Likes, anyone? The importance of Facebook making this move is obvious; the stream is king. It will also solidify Facebook as a true center for user’s social activities- not just a place to see what friends are up to. This is good for marketers, small and large alike. With Facebook integrating these features, more and more people will be introduced to these social features who currently don’t use them. The more people sharing their activities, the more we can – Read the full article
I wrote a post about social media monitoring last week and in the news today is a Chicago company that is suing one of their tenants for $50,000. This lawsuit is already making waves at popular social media news site- mashable. Within the first two hours of the story being posted their are about 900 people tweeting and 115 comments on the blog. The tenant Amanda Bonnen made a comment on her twitter about mold in her apartment. “Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay.” The reason this story is already grabbing the attention of the social media community is the fact that Horizon’s Jeffrey Michael is quoted in the Sun-Times as saying “The statements are obviously false, and it’s our intention to prove that”, adding that Horizon has a good reputation to protect. Bonnen wasn’t contacted before the suit was filed or asked to remove the Tweet, he said: “We’re – Read the full article
As a small business we are always looking for ways to collaborate with our team, clients and other developers on open source project. Today Google unveiled its newest tool to its growing arsenal of web based tools. Some people are calling this the replacement of Gmail! We are looking forward to testing these new product once it is released to developers (which should be soon!) Here’s how it works: In Google Wave you create a wave and add people to it. Everyone on your wave can use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. They can insert a reply or edit the wave directly. It’s concurrent rich-text editing, where you see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave. That means Google Wave is just as well suited for quick messages as for persistent content — it allows for both collaboration and communication. You can also use “playback” to – Read the full article
Recently there have been a lot of discussions in the web design community about the issues of dealing with Internet Explorer 6 with the recent release of IE 8. One web designer has begun showing this image above for users that still use IE 6. Check out the landing page here. The fustration for the team comes when you basically have to code the website 3, 4, 5 different ways so that it is functional in all major browsers. One of the biggest users of IE 6 is the corporate IT community who does not like to upgrade browsers that work. Our stance: Lakeshore Branding still supports Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8 as well as FireFox 2+, Safari, Google Chrome and Opera. Creating seperate style sheets can be a pain for any web development team, but with some websites still seeing 30% or more of their visitors using the outdated browser, it is crutical you support it for your – Read the full article
This is a chart from Compete.com, their service analyzes website traffic over time and can be used for keyword research. According to their independent data we increased the traffic to GreenMaker Supply 238% compared to the previous year. We worked with them to create a list of recommendations and they implemented most of our list. Shortly after they did this you can begin to see the increase in website traffic that their website began to experience. This was accomplished with a few hours of consulting, what would you be able to accomplish if your website traffic increased 300% from the previous year? February 2008- 2,000 visitors, February 2009- 6,000 visitors. Numbers don’t lie, give us a call today.
As one of the few forms of permission-based advertising, E-mail marketing is one of the most personal and potentially profitable forms of marketing today. By delivering relevant content only to your subscribers, you are creating and nurturing a special relationship with them. An E-mail campaign is a great promotional, branding, PR, and even customer support tool. Crafting informative and eye-catching communications is essential to convey your company’s message to your recipients the moment your E-mail enters their inbox. Here at Lakeshore Branding, we provide you with easy-to-use technology, creative design, accurate reporting, and flexible consulting services needed to manage and create a stellar E-mail marketing program. Branding & Email Design Content Creation Reporting & Analytics *The Power of Direct Marketing: ROI, Sales, Expenditures and Employment in the US, 2008-2009 Edition. Published October 2008 by the Direct Marketing Association.
Tinley Park, Online Marketing Company Web design isn’t just about creativity. It’s about usability. The point isn’t just to direct visitor traffic, but to create new customer experiences and build new customer relationships. Here at Lakeshore Branding, we pride in building and developing websites that succeed. This success is measured by higher search rankings, increased visits, more visitors, and superior return of investment. Our array of web design and development solutions – provided by our team of web designers, SEO consultants, and Internet marketing specialists – can help your business leap to the next level. Work with us, and you’ll find out that we don’t stop at aesthetics. We’re after the bottom line. Because that, after all, is what web design should be all about. If you think Lakeshore Branding is the right fit for your project, we invite you to fill in the form below. (Please complete all the fields marked *) Your name please. * Your Company – Read the full article
