OUR MESSAGE
OF THE DAY

If you follow that strategies of Inbound marketing then you know how important content is to your website. Here's today's take-away: For B2B companies make sure that you write about business issues that your prospective customers might face. Business concerns, challenges and solutions – turn your website into an educational hub. Offer rich content packed with relevant information that is pertinent to their business concerns.

Don't forget to download a copy of our: 'A super easy way to optimize your web page'. I know you'll find it helpful and it's FREE.

Paul Allen, one of the co-founders of Microsoft is suing the top 11 tech companies, such as Apple, Google, Facebook and ebay.

He claims they have used his patents and technology he created a decade ago mostly for e-commerce sites.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the four patents named in the suit, include technology ideas such us pop-up stock quotes on a website, suggestions for related articles you might be interested in, based on what you’re currently reading and videos along the side of your screen.

Read more

I read a great blog article yesterday that I thought was worth mentioning. It comes from the good folks at HubSpot. If you're in the process of evaluating your business website you may want to check it out. They offer some good advice on what you should delete from your website today.

Here's one that I love -- get rid of those long scrolling pages -- the ones that go on and on and on and on.

Here's a link to their blog: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/6457/5-items-to-delete-from-your-website-today.aspx/?source=email-magnet-59-a

Did you know Skype has more users than Facebook?
According to the infographic by jess3, skype has 90 million more users than Facebook.

I believe with the rate Facebook is growing it will pass very soon.

If you have an E-Comm site and your products need to be showcased, then you know just how important your product photography is. I came across a great article that I thought I'd pass on. Smashing Magazine has collected a few great examples of how online retailers have incorporated high-quality product photos onto their websites.

Link to the article "Improve Your E-Commerce Design With Brilliant Product Photos"

Who would have thought! Just take a look at the Moon pictures Jurilog, from Japan took with his iPhone 4.

Jurilog wanted to go star watching but didn’t want to go to the countryside or take any heavy equipment, instead he used his iPhone 4 mounted on a 75mm/F7 telescope with a Vixen LV5mm eyepiece.

He was expecting darker images but he took advantage of the iPhone 4's back illuminated sensor…and the results are amazing! The image resolution is such that you can even see the craters of the moon. Nice work Jurilog.

To read more, check his blog at: http://hgc.blog.so-net.ne.jp/

Megan McNeil, a young lady who’s battling a rare form of cancer called ‘NEUROBLASTOMA’ has realized her dream of singing in her own music video.

Her song THE WILL TO SURVIVE is an inspiration to those who are experiencing similar ‘dark moments’ as she has over the last four years.

Megan’s song is now available on iTunes and Amazon.com with all profits going to The James Fund to support neuroblastoma research at the Hospital for Sick Children and to the British Columbia Childhoold Cancer Parent Association.

I think it’s pretty cool – you can check out her website here

If your business is not using Video to promote your products and services perhaps you should consider the opportunities.

If you’re targeting 25-34 year olds, perhaps you should consider using video to help sell your products and services.

According to eMarketer online video viewers are increasing every year especially in that age category.

Check out how Evenflo is using video to demonstrate and showcase their products.

http://www.evenflo.com/e3sideimpact/#

You may of heard: the largest social network in the world recently announced 'Places'. Facebook has unveiled this new geolocation feature.

This location-based function helps you share where you are, help you find where your friends are, and discover new places around you.

Here's the caveat: one of your friends needs to have a 'smartphone' like an iPhone for now, but if you don’t have one you can use the Facebook touch mobile site on a browser that supports both HTML 5 and geolocation.

It’s pretty easy to use, just go to the places tab on your iPhone application or touch.facebook.com and allow Facebook to know your location and start sharing it with your friends, find where your friends are and discover the coolest places near you… it’s that easy!

Click here to find more.

According to eMarketer, blogging for marketing purposes will continue to grow. If your B2B company is not currently active with the hottest form of social media marketing, maybe it's time you looked into the benefits, as there are many.

Before you consider your next marketing brand strategy - perhaps you should think of this. What can you give your costumers so their experience with your brand is a positive one?
Look at Starbucks for example (my favorite): it's not just about the coffee, it's about the whole experience. They recently announced their partnership with Yahoo to launch the Starbucks Digital network (SDN) that will give you access to content from the best sources of News, Entertainment, Business & Careers and even iTunes downloads!...and here's the best part... it’s all free!  

A new Facebook scam is making the rounds, and it’s taking advantage of a non-existent Facebook feature: the Dislike button.

First, let’s clear things up: There is no such thing as an official Facebook dislike button. It's possible that Facebook will implement a similar feature in the future, but right now it simply doesn’t exist.

So, if you see a status update containing the message “Get the official DISLIKE button now” followed by a link, you should know that it’s another one of many scams that aim to extract your personal data.

We advise you not to click on such suspicious links on Facebook. Do not give away your personal information, unless you’re absolutely sure why and who you’re giving it to.

If you’re undergoing a B2B website redesign, TRY TO AVOID adding web pages with content that already exists on your website. Adding duplicate content may be ‘watering down’ the SEO potency. Instead of all the SEO power for those relevant keywords pointing to one web page on your site, you’re splitting that in half between 2 or more pages.

In one of our previous blog post we mention two resources that will allow you to use a bigger selection of fonts for your website design. Here’s a new one! Google font directory: It will allow you to browse all the fonts available via the Google Font API and use them on your website pages with an open source license, it’s worth checking it out.

If you're undergoing a B2B website redesign, DO NOT change headlines (h1 tags) on pages. These headlines account for the most important content (keywords) on the page and pages have already been indexed and accounted for by search engines like Google.

On August 5, Apple filed a patent that will turn your bike into a smart bike, allowing you to communicate with other cyclists while monitoring your speed, position, heart rate, power, etc. easily right from your iPhone or iTouch.

Click here to read full article

Reading a long-winded blog is probably not going to get you the mileage you're expecting. I don't know about you, but I don't have a lot of FREE time in my day - so I can't afford the addition 38 min. to get through your post. My advice - cut it down in size. Why not write in shorter 'bite-sized' pieces - making your B2B blogs more inviting to read. You'll probably be just as effective and save yourself and your audience 'precious' time.

Who said your website can’t be fun? Take this humorous Old Navy web application as an example… Try to always be creative with your website and give your users something different than your products and services.
Think outside the box! entertain your clients by exploring different types of media. Your website should include video, games, contests…you name it! I guarantee they’ll want to come back for more.

If you're undergoing a website redesign, DO NOT alter or change page URL's. Keep existing URLs and their locations as Google and other search engines have already indexed these pages and we don't want to lose any traction on what's already been established.

If your're about to embark on a business website redesign, remember that search engines have already indexed the pages that you may be deleting - so you'll be loosing the equity that you had gained over time. Instead archive any page that's being deleted in an archive directory.

Astronomers call it a solar tsunami and it's expected to hit our  magnetosphere on August 3th. or perhaps the 4th. Look to the night skies of northern Ontario Canada and the northern United States, as you just may see the show, which takes the form of red and green rivers of light dancing across the sky.

National Post article here