Ever Disappeared Down the Reddit Rabbit Hole?

Karen    Opinion, Social Media    

This week’s anti-SOPA protests, initiated largely by the Reddit online community, illustrated the power and reach of this community and their ability to mobilise for what they consider to be a worthwhile cause.

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Is Traditional “Search” Rapidly Going Out of Style?

Karen    Opinion, SEO Revisited    

A question for you – has the traditional “one size fits all” version of search results now well and truly been confined to the dustbin?

With the recent rapidfire launch of new online assets and functionality by uber-adserving-platform Google (no longer really simply a search engine giant), are we seeing an ‘end of days’ … not for life as we know it, but for old style search and what it means?

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Google Search Incorporates Google+ – Why is Anyone Surprised?

Karen    Business Tools and Resources, Opinion, Social Media     conversion optimisation, Google +, social media

Blog posts with inflammatory headlines decrying the latest move by Google to further link together its web properties, by incorporating Google + results into SERPs have been circulating the net the last week or so. I can’t help but wonder why anyone at all is surprised by this.

Google have signalled all along they are integrating their assets together – and why wouldn’t they? the incorporation of elements like the +1 button has been around for a while, providing you are logged into a Google account of any kind. And personalised search is pretty much unavoidable – even when you turn off search history, you will still get personalised and localised results. read more

Six things I wish our clients knew …

Karen    Building trust, Opinion, Updating site content    

For the last two and a half years, I have been working with a web design and development company. The following observations are my own and are echoed by many of my colleagues.

1. Research takes time, and there isn’t always something tangible to show for it. When we scope something for a client project, it might take five hours just to work out that it can’t actually be done in the way the project was envisaged, or with the existing technology platform. Correction – it can’t be done cost-effectively – as they say in the business, anything can be done if you throw enough time and money at it.

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New Year, Fresh Start for your Website

Karen    Populating your site, Updating site content    

So 2012 has rolled over on the calendar – and you are back at work. Time to review your company website and make sure everything is up to date and ready for the year ahead. This might also be a good time to look at a few of the following items …

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The Best Way to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions

Karen    Business Tools and Resources, Inspiration    

So we are a week into the new year, 2012.

And what have you done? Did you make a resolution to lose weight, go to the gym daily, quit smoking, cut back on the alcohol or change some other damaging vice or bad habit?

Do you believe in making – and trying to keep, New Year’s resolutions? Or have you ‘been there, done that’ so many times without results that you just don’t bother any more?

I’m pretty much in the latter camp, but just recently I had a little ‘aha’ moment that I think could really help in achieving the things we would really like to change or improve in our lives in the year ahead. read more

New Zealand businesses – what data would you like about the Kiwi social media scene?

Karen    Social Media    

So if we were to commission some research into NZ brands and organisations in Social Media, reviewing Facebook, Twitter, Google+ , Foursquare, possibly YouTube and blogs as a baseline, do you have data you would like to see added to the list below?

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Worshipping at the altar of “efficiency” – will it be the end of us?

Karen    Opinion    

Is worshipping at the altar of efficiency going to be the end of our world? The harbingers of doom are all around us, yet what if it is not the Mayans or the religious rapture believers who are behind our demise, but something much simpler and more pervasive. Making a god of Efficiency … above all things.

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