How to start blogging, first part of a three-part series on blogging

First embraced by academics, geeks, political commentators and activists at the end of the nineties, blogs have now become a widely used medium. In August 2008, 14.5 million people in the UK visited at least one blog (Source: Econsultancy Internet Compendium). It is easy to imagine that this figure is much higher today than in August 2008.

So why should businesses be blogging, and how to get started?  This is what I’ll have a look at today. Read the rest of this entry »

When I graduated from Sussex University in 2005 (I can’t believe it’s that long ago now!) with a BA in Media Studies firmly under my belt I felt like the world was my oyster. I could work in documentary film, be a photojournalist, work in advertising or go into interactive and digital media with all the skills and knowledge I had gained on the course…..but how was I going to get there? How was I going to land that vital first job in the media industry? Read the rest of this entry »

Fresh from her BBC documentary series “The Virtual Revolution” Dr Aleks Krotoski came to Wired Sussex’s “Make it in Media” job fair to talk to the students, graduates, and digital media enthusiasts about her trajectory into technology and journalism.

She started by describing her New Orleans origins and Type A parents, and I did appreciate her Lex Luthor reference as she described her megalomaniac tendencies. Being a workaholic was a recurring theme and seemed integral to her achievements.

Alex attributes much of her success to her unusual multi-faceted accent, an odd mix of American and English that seems to intrigue producers and lends itself well to voice-overs. Her initial foray into broadcasting journalism was securing herself a place on a BBC internship programme. The most useful advice she gave regarding this was telling the crowd if they ever find themselves in a similar position, to type up all notes at the end of the day and leave it on their boss’s desk as a way of showing their dedication and organisation.

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Social media flourished in 2009 and this year it’s going to become an even bigger player in the way we browse, consume and share information online. Below are my predictions for the biggest trends regarding social media’s development in 2010. Read the rest of this entry »

I was doing some research the other day for a presentation based around the role of digital and particularly social media for a B2C brand and came across a post on Mashable about changing the world through social media.

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Would you find it useful to know what people say about you in their conversations online? If you are engaging in social media this is not only useful but essential. Being unaware of conversations can be a hazard for your brand / business. It could also mean you miss out on excellent opportunities.

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Now that we’re well into the first month of the New Year I started to think of what might be a few digital marketing New Year Resolutions for a business in 2010. Many will already be doing many of these things but if not then maybe these will help you. Read the rest of this entry »

Today I am having a look at the questions of B2B brands and their approach to social media.

Gartner predicts that in 2010 more than 60% of Fortune 1000 companies will engage in some form of social media. As social media touch the majority of the population on a daily basis, it is natural enough that consumer brands now embrace these to connect with their consumers or fans. What about B2B brands? Read the rest of this entry »

Snow has been here again, reminding me on my last trip to Paris, for XMAS, on Eurostar.

So to start this year’s blog, I thought that I would look back on my Eurostar experience over the Xmas period as I was trying to go to Paris to spend holidays with my French family.

Soon after five trains had broken down in the tunnel on December 19th, Eurostar started to send email updates every day, asking their customers to check the Eurostar website every evening at 8pm for traffic information.

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Real time search results. Recently we’ve seen both Google and Bing attempt to include Tweets in their SERPs however it was apparent from the out-set that they weren’t quite ready. From a ranking perspective it simply didn’t seem fair that people could get a number one result just because they were the last person to tweet a certain search term. So this year hopefully Google (and the other search engines) can develop a fair and effective way of integrating real time search.

Conversion rate optimisation. One of the most important reasons for a business to improve its online presence through SEO is because it wants more people to find its website and to make more money. However often the conversion rate isn’t as high as it should be.  We’re now into the realms of conversion rate optimisation and this year I think it’s going to be important for more agencies to introduce CRO as part of their standard SEO process. It’s very measurable, normally with a good ROI when done well and therefore should be an added string to any SEO bow.

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