I was awake at 4am the other day thinking about how I would get to work if the forecast 8 inches of snow was correct. Then it dawned on me (not the actual dawn, that’s not til 7.30am) that it didn’t matter because I could work from home. During the big freeze in the winter of 1963, Britain was a much more industrial nation – factories closed and public services really struggled, although more schools stayed open because most people lived close enough to walk. Now, broadband internet means that a great number of employees can work from home. When it snowed 2 years ago, I walked to work through the snow, 3 miles across the fields. This time, I just turned on my laptop. Read the rest of this entry »

Every Christmas, my wife Karen asks me what I want for Christmas and provide her with a list. This year I thought I’d get some advice from the good people on twitter.

So a little while ago I posted a tweet ‘What’s the best book you’ve read this year?’I have had some excellent responses and now have a fabulous Christmas wish list.

What’s interesting is the quality of the books mentioned and the diversity of them which illustrates the quality of people on twitter.

‘What has this got to do with social media?’ you may be wondering. I say ‘Everything’ in that social media is a superb way of gathering opinion and information and doing something like this proves its power and usefulness to me yet again.

To thank the people who recommended books I’ve included your twitter ids below with the books you read this year that you loved most and to you I say ‘Many thanks’. If anyone would like to add their own suggestions in the comments section of the blog or comment on others recommendations, please feel free to do so.

Here’s the list exactly as they were tweeted:

@arjantupan One best book? Hard. Here some: White Tiger, Lean Thinking, Black Swan, Democracy Kills

@arjantupan Oh, And Tribes, of course. And, for the Americans and Dutch: The Island at the Center of the World

@Dunkndisorderly Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer. Amazing book
Read the rest of this entry »

White Hat Media recently appointed Duncan Birch to the role of Business Development Manager.

Duncan previously worked for Email marketing company Pure360 in their major accounts division where he signed brands such as the leading pet charity PDSA, the Evening Standard and Jones the Bootmakers.

Prior to this, Duncan worked as an executive search consultant in the home entertainment sector, managing relationships with major content providers such as BSkyB, the BBC, and in the mobile data business.

Jeremy Spiller, MD, commented:”Duncan brings to White Hat Media his solid experience of the digital media sector in sales and business development. He will be instrumental in accelerating our growth and winning major clients.”

Download the press release: NewsRelease_Appointment_Dec09

For further information please contact:
Anne Collet – White Hat Media – Tel: 01273 704771 – Email: anne.collet@whitehatmedia.com

White Hat Media developed for BTR Direct, UK based e-tailer of DVDs and Blue Ray discs, an automated open source e-commerce shop, enabling the retailer to easily manage and sell over 65,000 product references.

BTR Direct operates in a competitive market. They needed new technology to accommodate a larger number of products, without impacting their staff structure.  After having consulted a number of agencies, BTR Direct’s MD, Peter, believed that White Hat Media’s expertise in open source e-commerce based solutions was the best choice for his business.
Read the rest of this entry »

From a journalistic point of view, search marketers can come under a lot of lexicographical fire when it comes to writing copy. However, I strongly believe producing keyword rich content does not have to come at the sacrifice of quality prose.

Writing is a craft, as is optimising content to perform well in the search engines and it’s fully possible to have the two working in perfect harmony. Just before I started an SEO internship through Wired Sussex all those fateful years ago, I was doing some research and came across an article on search marketing written by Charlie Brooker. Now I don’t want to join a cult but if Charlie started one just show me where to sign. In his article the self-confessed ‘miserablist’ warned against prose manipulated for Google and the dangers these new trends posed for quality reportage. And although his points had a faint whiff of truth, anyone in the industry knows that it’s quite possible to write content that not only is picked up by the search engines, but it also enjoyable and informative to read.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, a major American airline fired one of their employees for having engaged with a customer after the latter had expressed his opinion on the poor usability of its website.

Facebook and Twitter, to name just two of these highly popular social media sites, give (un)happy customers / citizens a very powerful and instant platform to make their voice heard, to an extent that has never been seen before.  For fun I cherry picked some “customer experience related” twitter posts this week, which I’ll leave for your judgement (please note that they are strictly reflecting their authors’ opinion, neither mine nor that of White Hat Media). Read the rest of this entry »

Many SEO’s believe that content is king. Quality content will always do well online, people will link to it, disseminate it for you, often it can take on a binary life of its own and raise your brand’s awareness with little more effort expended by the creator. And we’ll happily produce it for free as long as it garners us some positive link equity and other such digital marketing perks.

However for newspapers the game is a bit different. For years now the major broadsheets and tabloids have been giving away their content for free. Why spend £1.20 on the paper when you can surf the website without having to pay? This is the quandary I find myself in most days. I’ve compromised by reading articles on the website in the week and purchasing the weekend editions Saturday and Sunday, so I don’t feel like a fully fledged, ice cold cheapskate.

Read the rest of this entry »

When working with a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) agency it’s important that the relationship is smooth for your campaign to be successful. Here are ten factors worth knowing when you work with an SEO agency that will facilitate the relationship and result in a successful campaign.

1. Expectations; having realistic expectations that are related to your budget are vital if the campaign is to go well. If you want your site to be top for highly competitive generic phrases such as ‘life insurance’ or ‘houses for sale’ then you’re going to need a large budget, it’s probably  going to Read the rest of this entry »

L’instant décisif

At home I have a framed picture of Henri Cartier-Bresson, a famous French photographer. It was published on the first page of a French newspaper printed the day after HCB died at the age of 96. The head line runs “L’instant décisif”, the decisive moment. This expression was coined in the fifties to describe the type of photography that HCB practiced and advocated. It means that photography is about capturing this unique moment, when everything falls into places, composition, characters and light…

How on earth does this relate to online marketing you ask? Well actually looking at this picture yesterday I was thinking that everything in life is about timing, and that online marketing campaigns are no exception. Read the rest of this entry »

The Gym Group signs over 20,000 new members with online campaign from White Hat Media

The Gym Group, the UK’s first low-cost chain of health clubs, has attracted more than 20,000 new members with a website and online campaign created by White Hat Media.

The Gym Group, which has five gyms in Surrey, London, Liverpool and Manchester, has been widely covered in the press due to its new approach to facilities, membership costs and contracts. The gym is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and membership costs are between £9.99 and £14.99 per month. There are no contracts and customers are free to leave at any point. Read the rest of this entry »