Coast Digital Blog

Take a look at this.

I've always been sympathetic to the art for art's sake approach, and in the same way I adore technology that's impractical and imbued with a major 'wow' factor.

For me, the new Razorfish Touch Framework (RTF or 'Razorfashion') falls squarely into this category. The touch-screen looks gorgeous and fun to use, like a supercharged iPhone the size of your torso. But one awkward question lurks at the back of my mind: is it really going to revolutionise clothes shopping?

No. I don’t think it is. Certainly not in-store. I think it’s a great innovation that’s been developed in the wrong market.

Listen closely to the video voiceover stating the RTF ‘brings inventory in-store to life.’ Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I can’t think of anything that brings shopping more to life than going to a store, handling the clothes, inspecting the quality of cut and fabric, asking advice from well-informed shop assistants and - with luck - haggling a few quid off the bill.

It doesn’t make sense to me to go to a shop, spend 10 or 15 minutes playing with a very stylish computer, and then returning to the real world to use up additional time inspecting the threads that are hanging on the racks.

That said, I can imagine myself sitting in front of a touch-screen home computer, playing with something just like the RTF and - if I liked what I saw - making the all-important decision to visit the store for a spot of in-person shopping. That's where I think the future of the software lies.

RTF is a fine and exciting development, but its real place is in the home, not in a shop. Unless, of course, it can be used to sample digital replicas of the goods sold in-store. I wonder what the music retailers think?

Summertime, and it’s time to head for the sun. Preferably with minimum hassle.

These days, I prefer to book my holidays online. It should be nice and easy to tap a few details into a website and be served up with a selection of packages and destinations. You’d also expect the vast holiday industry to be desperate to increase market share via online bookings.

Why, then, is it so difficult to book a holiday on the web?

When I go to a site, I just want to key in a selection of dates and then view a list of destinations available during that period. This simply isn’t possible on many bookings pages.

I also want to filter information in ways that suit me. For example, if I’m quite happy to stay somewhere that has a three star rating or better, I don’t see why I should be forced to select a ‘four star’ or ‘five star’ option for any given search.

It’s the same story when it comes to some other options. I can see the point of being asked whether you want to depart from a specific London airport, or if you are content to select ‘any London’. But what if I want to run a search that checks for flight availability at two specific London airports? That functionality is often missing.

Rant over! I still prefer to book online, but let’s hope that when I book next year’s holiday these final touches will have been implemented by the big players.

If you flick through the back pages of certain newspaper supplements, you'll soon conclude that marketing to older people hasn't much changed over the last few decades. That's not to say that adverts of happy and healthy pensioners modelling stair lifts, walk-in baths, reclining armchairs, wide-fit shoes and polyester trousers don't have their audience - they do. But you'd be missing a trick if you hadn't spotted the growing number of older people who are not only demanding more retail choice, but are looking for it online.

Let's take a look at some recent facts and figures. This month, Internet marketing firm Nielsen Online reported that, during 2008, Facebook attracted 8.3 million new users aged between 50 and 64. In January, a Microsoft survey of 1,000 PC users in the UK discovered that 95% of the over 55s were using the web on a daily basis - astonishing when you consider that only 85% of 16-24 year olds did the same. Similar research by AXA in February found that four in ten retired people regularly buy online.

On the basis of these figures, I think there are three main factors that Internet marketing specialists in the UK need to concern themselves with. First, and most obviously, web use among the older generation is going to rise further, and quickly - and when it does, this is a demographic that has the potential to spend more time online than any other. The AXA research showed that UK pensioners with Internet access logged on for an average of six hours each week, hot on the heels of their counterparts in Australia and Canada (seven hours) and a little behind the USA (9 hours).

Secondly, the audience will not only rise, but it will be a committed one. Although it's dangerous to extrapolate from trends in other countries, a recent study in China may yet give us a glimpse of what's to come. According to this data, collected by Ogilvy Mather, the fourth greatest item of expenditure for over 60s in two major Chinese cities was telecommunications - ranking behind only food, utilities and daily requirements. Again, this ties in with the AXA data, which reveals that 41% of pensioners polled named 'Internet usage' as their preferred hobby, outranking DIY & Gardening (at 39%) and - a traditional retirement market - travel (at 28%).

But lastly, and most importantly, the older generation is spending its time and money in new ways - and this is where the savvy marketer will direct their gaze.

Think about it. The people now reaching retirement age belong to the post-war generation - the so-called 'Baby Boomers'. These are the people who discovered free love in the 60s, thought it was a nifty idea to wear platform shoes as they brought up kids in the 70s, and invested their money in former public utility shares in the 1980s. I generalise, but the wider point is that we're talking about a generation that has had greater freedom from convention or contstraint than any other than went before it.

This, of course, is brilliant from the marketing perspective. Clever retailers and service providers can now target a growing demographic that:

• Is not only adopting social media like Facebook at a rapid rate, but lists emailing as its most popular Internet activity
• Is increasingly adopting web search - 83% of the age group according to AXA
• Is economically active for longer - not only do over 60s face pressures from the recession, but governments are raising the age at which people become eligible for a state pension: in Australia it will be 67 by 2023, and in the UK it will have risen to 68 by 2050.
• Can see the web's potential for a healthy and productive retirement, not only in the choice it offers, but for providing welcome solutions like home delivery
• Is not afraid to hunt out the best deal: like the rest of us, baby boomers are cutting back on household and luxury expenditure, and increasingly turn to online retailers to slash bills.

More than anything, it's going to be an interesting few years for online marketing. And the biggest challenge isn't going to be how to shift those stair lifts and and walk-in baths: it's going to be making sure that your products and services can be found by a clued-up and newly-influential market. Contact us to find out how we can help you do it.

Recently, we had to analyse how users were interacting with a series of Flash videos. Data we need included the identities of videos that people were watching, the time they spent viewing them, and whether they reached for the pause button at any point.

In the past, lack of suitable technology has made it almost impossible to track user interaction in Flash. Luckily Google has now developed its own analytics tracking code which you can add to your flash movies.

When we added the Google actionscript code, we were able to catch any user-initiated actions and relay them to Google Analytics, along with the relevant movie name. In this way, we could get a complete analysis of the most popular videos.

As well giving us better understanding and more robust statistics for the success of our clients’ websites and features, the new technique is a major step forward when it comes to assessing the 'stickiness' of Flash interfaces and objects. Along with the development of sitemapping and history frameworks for Flash sites, the new Analytics code can be applied to larger projects to create fully searchable, bookmarkable and trackable Flash projects.

If you are a developer planning to add Google Analytics, one of the best tools in your armoury will be Firebug, a Firefox add-on that allows you to monitor any traffic passing out of Flash and into Google Analytics, along with the variables and commands you have given it. If you’re not familiar with it, give it a try!

One of the big online success stories of recent years has been the meteoric rise of the Wordpress blogging platform. Although you can opt for a ready-hosted blog at Wordpress.com, the real innovation takes place in the Wordpress.org community - aficionados of the self-hosted version of the software.

Because Wordpress is open source, programmers from across the globe can extend its functionality by creating free plugins. These can help you do anything from adding rotating banner ads or photo galleries to your site, to filtering comments spam or helping you manage subscription lists. With the right combination of plugins, you can even transform Wordpress into a flexible content management system.

Among the most useful plugins available to the community are the ones that help you with search engine marketing.

These are my top 5 plugins for SEO:

All in One SEO Pack
The All in One SEO Pack is an excellent plugin that allows you to tailor your META data to your exact needs. You can either specify a title, description and keywords for an individual post or page, or use an automated system to define how your title and META data are structured. This plugin also enables you use ‘noindex’ for archives, categories and tags if required.

Redirection
The Redirection plugin helps you manage 404 errors and easily set up 301 redirects. You can define these redirects based upon a user’s login status or which site they were referred from, or you can simply send people to random pages. The really nifty bits, though, are the automated features. You can set up the plugin to automatically set up a 301 redirect for posts that you subsequently rename. You can also add 302 & 307 redirects to a post or any other file.

Google XML Sitemaps
The Google XML Sitemap plugin creates an XML compliant sitemap based upon your preferences, and it updates automatically after changes are made on your WordPress site. The plugin also notifies major search engines about your recent updates - including Google, MSN and Yahoo.

Similar Posts
The Similar Posts plugin displays a list of pages or posts that are related to the current post. You can fully control the balance of factors that decide which types of posts are suggested. The additional links on each post or page increase the number of internal links on your site, and should also help to prolong the time people spend on it.

Breadcrumb NavXT
The Breadcrumb NavXT plugin makes it easy to install a breadcrumb trail on your WordPress site. Fully customisable, this nice little tool will not only increase usability by letting your visitors know exactly where they are in your website structure, but will also increase internal linking to the deeper pages of your website.

Do you have a favourite WordPress plugin you feel contributes toward SEO? If so, please leave a comment below with your recommendation.

It's easy enough to dismiss social networking service Twitter as a place for people who want to be virtual friends with celebrities, but you'd not only miss out on the chance to have people like Stephen Fry brightening up your day in less than 140 characters, you'd also be throwing away new business opportunities.

If you want to use Twitter to extend brand awareness and win new customers, you need to look deeper than the surface chatter. At first glance, Twitter seems to be filled with people who don't have much worth saying - unless you really do care about strangers who have got stuck in traffic, are meeting their boss for lunch, or are being bored to death at a workshop on paperclip storage solutions for the 21st century.

To make a success of Twitter, you first have to realise that this seemingly trivial chatter is a commercial goldmine — if you have the tools and the talent to exploit it. And while every company will need to take a slightly different approach, the following are techniques that unite many of the most successful business twitterers.

1.   Banter means business

In the same way that it’s more effective to sell to existing contacts than it is to make a series of cold calls, business on Twitter is built on relationships. Whatever your Twitter friends are talking about, join in: laugh at their jokes, sympathise with their setbacks and praise them for their successes. If other Twitterers feel they’ve got to know you, they’re more likely to give you their custom.

2.   Forget the hard sell

Imagine you sell handbags. If you want to sell them on Twitter, then the worst thing to do is to set up an account in your company name and tweet only about your latest offers. You won’t pick up many followers, and you’ll soon lose the ones that you do. Tweet about how you burned your breakfast, how your daughter got sent home from school and how a pigeon made its mark on your best outfit. And then mention your handbags – people will be more receptive to your business if they’ve got an insight into your life.

3.   Add those followers

This is the tactic that separates people who use Twitter as an online social circle, and people who have business objectives. If you’re serious about selling, add everyone who asks – whether you share their taste in music or not. The more relationships you strike up, the bigger your audience of potential customers.

4.   Help out others

The best way to build up close networks is to give people a mention. Doing this makes people visible to all your followers, and will pick them up new followers in their own turn. Retweet messages that your network will find useful, funny or interesting. If you’re good at it, people will retweet your own much more often. Similarly, use memes such as #followfriday to give followers valuable exposure.

5.   Use the right tools

If you only engage with Twitter via its website, you’re not making the best of it.

If you’re serious about business twittering, you need to use a desktop client that has a search function: I recommend Tweetdeck or Seesmic (both PC and Mac), as well as Tweetie (Mac only). By running permanent searches on business critical terms – for example, I search on “copywriter” and “freelance writer” – you can quickly identify Twitterers who share your interests, and who might be in the market for your products. Doing this is not an alternative strategy to building your own network: approach a potential customer and they will immediately check your profile to see whether you are properly engaged in the medium, and not just a salesperson.

6.   Be inventive

Think about clever ways you can use your Twitter account. One baker in London uses it to tell followers there’s a new batch of bread coming out of the oven. And never pass up the opportunity to shout about your username. Did you know that ours is @coastdigital? We’d love you to follow us. Or me.

These tips are aimed primarily at businesses that are just starting out on Twitter, or are thinking of doing so. In a future post I’ll be taking a close look at how brands and individuals become entwined on Twitter – for better and for worse.

If the online world has become a shopper’s paradise, it’s also a crowded marketplace in which digital stores jostle for position at the top of Google’s search rankings.

It’s not hard to see why the online market is booming. E-commerce companies can make the most of low-cost social marketing, target their sales with easily-obtained customer data and – when they get it right – compete with the big brands that have traditionally dominated the High Street. The true beauty of the online world is the fact that business overheads are slashed, making it easier for anyone to get on the field and play ball.

That’s not to say that small, online businesses don’t face a ‘David and Goliath’ challenge when they are pitched against the big names – but it’s a battle they’re well positioned to win, especially with an effective and well-designed website.

If you want a digital store that will outshine your competitors’ and give you a greater return on your investment, we recommend you try these proven tips from the Coast Digital team.

1. Use a consistent template across your whole site
A familiar website page structure makes users feel comfortable, and it’s key to sales conversion. If you embed a strategic template across your entire site, customers will correctly guess what their target page looks like before they even reach it. Everyone likes their assumptions to be correct, so getting the structure and feel of your template consistent will give users a subconscious ego-massage and put them in the mood for buying.

2. Make navigation as simple as possible
Ignore this at your peril. If a potential customer can’t find the page they’re looking for, they will leave and give their custom to a rival with a better-designed site. Stick to clear, logical navigation systems and never sacrifice ease of use for design gimmickry.

3. Establish your branding
Brand association is a decisive factor that influences purchasing decisions, so it’s crucial that your website conveys the right image. Providing visitors with a brand they can associate with will help you overcome the lack of an orthodox POS strategy, so it’s a good idea to have synergy between your online and offline operations. On the other hand, if your business is solely online, you can carry out research into existing brands and pick up ideas from the ones that are successfully reaching the audiences within your target market.

4. Make sure your content appeals to your audience
Get your content wrong, and you’ll lose conversions. Keep it relevant, digestible and targeted and you’ll pick up sales. Never forget your intended audience, and shape your language and tone to meet their expectations.

5. Use simple, attractive imagery
Don’t succumb to the temptation of using visual tricks to make your site look cool – your pages will almost certainly be a disaster. Simple, relevant imagery is always appealing, easy to decipher, and helps emphasise your credentials for quality and reliability.

6. Help users to locate what they’re after
Provide customers with both a site map and an intelligent search function and you’ll ensure that they will always find what they’re looking for. The simplicity of these options is very attractive and savvy visitors will use them to get straight to the point.

7. Find more ways to keep visitors engaged with your brand
An online shop has many benefits, but one major drawback is the fact that visitors can leave your website in an instant. That’s why it’s a good idea to keep customers engaged with tools and resources that encourage them to maintain a relationship with your website. Email sign-ups, community sections and free guides are popular, and give users the incentive to return in future.

8. Provide external links, but keep visitors in
Because it usually costs money to get a visitor to your site, it can fly against reason to provide them with out-clicks – links to external sites. However, providing relevant external links can be highly beneficial for users, and improve their relationship with you. Just make sure that all external links open in a new window – that way visitors still have open access to your website and don’t need to make the journey afresh.

Whilst these tips are not a complete set of recommendations, they will certainly get you started on the road to online success. For information on how Coast Digital can power your web presence into an even higher league, be sure to get in touch.