Indzine Blogs

Google Place

Fri, 03 Feb 2012

The majority of businesses now have websites to reach their customers.

Now what if I was to tell you that there is another way that customers can find you, and, it reduces expenditure on non-performing markets.

For this we say hello to Google Places. In order to use this tool you will need to have a Google account.

So what is Google Places?

Google Places is a service that provides businesses an additional platform where they can update and manage the location and basic information of their company.

So what can you do with Google Places?

Gone are the days when we used to pull out the directory to search for local businesses. Nowadays nearly all consumers search for local business online. So you need to make sure that you are there. You are able to do this with Google Places.

So what can you do with Google Places to help your business stand out?

• Get more customers by letting them know where you are
• Enhance your business image by uploading images and videos, showing off your business
• Tell people what you do with real time updates
• Let people know what others think of your business with customer reviews

So what can Google Places do for you?

You have to ask yourselves what useful information can you take from this tool?

Well you can learn a lot more about your customer base. You can learn what your customers think of your business / service and potentially increase the number of customer visits leading to more business.

Last year Google introduced a major update to its search engine called Google Panda. This has changed search results, returning higher-quality local websites with good social media integration nearer the top of the natural search results page.

We hope the information above has been helpful, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us at InDzine if you would like further information on Google places.

Google Analytics

Fri, 27 Jan 2012

It's all well and good having a website, but has it had an impact? How do we know where people are coming from? How are we going to track activity on the page?

Well the simple answer is Google Analytics.

So what is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is currently the most popular web-reporting tool in the world. Its main purpose is to generate useful statistics about visitors to a website.

So what can you do with Google Analytics?

Once installed you can use the reports to see how visitors have found your website and how they have explored it.

The reports are comprehensive and give you access to a vast array of useful data including:
• The number of visits to your website
• How long a visitor spends on your website
• Are visitors returning to your website
• Have you achieved your website goal which could be a product sale or sales enquiry
• Detailed information on the websites most popular sections and pages
• Key word phrases used in search engines which have found your website

So what can Google Analytics do for you?

Well the information that has been gathered can then be used to enhance your website visitor's experience.

If key areas of your website aren't as popular as you had hoped, small amendments to landing pages can be made. As an example addition of a graphical banner can channel your visitors to product or service areas you want them to explore. This will result in more time spent in the key areas which can only help to increase enquiries and sales.

So Google Analytics is our friend and we shouldn't be afraid to use it. It helps us by providing real time information and spotting gaps so we can make educated adjustments to our websites.

So what do you think, we would love to hear your thoughts and experiences with Google Analytics.

Things to Consider When Email Planning in 2012

Thu, 19 Jan 2012

Now that the New Year has passed, many of us are taking stock and looking to the future (and not just our waistlines). Here are our top 5 tips to consider when planning this year's email strategy:

1. Data Cleansing
Clean data protects your brand, increases response and provides accurate reporting. Ensure your customer database has been regularly updated with strategies for hard and soft bounces, running against the latest suppression files and removing unsubscribes before the next communication. If you are buying in lists, make sure the data purchased is both recent and relevant.

2. Personalisation
Targeting your customers with appropriate content will drive response rates. By using their names, referring to previous purchases and serving dynamic content based on their previous email click through rates, you can demonstrate that you care about what they like. This is particularly effective if you have a broad range of products and services that appeal to many different customers.

3. Timing
Contact your customers too often and they will unsubscribe, too infrequently and you will not be engaging them. Times of day will also have an impact on open rates. Confirmation or triggered emails should be provided to your customers as and when they are most useful.

4. Browser
It is important that your customers can read and enjoy your email. You can check if they can do this by viewing the email in popular web browsers, such as; Firefox, Chrome and Safari and also against web based email clients; Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, etc, to see how your content is being interpreted. As internet ready mobile devices become increasingly popular, it is worth considering their browsers; iPhone's Mobile Safari and Android's Opera Mini.

5. Tracking
Track the success of your data selections, content and promotions and continue to build on your efforts. Establish a control group to monitor campaigns against, accounting for customers who would have responded anyway. This will provide better accuracy when calculating the ROI of your campaigns.

We hope you have found these tips helpful. From everyone at InDzine we wish you the best of luck and a prosperous New Year!

New Years Resolutions for Twitter

Thu, 05 Jan 2012

Happy New Year! It's that time of year when we all have good intentions of ways to improve ourselves and follow good practices at work. We all know we should be on Twitter and updating regularly but we don't necessarily do it. If you want to get noticed and turn Twitter into a sales and PR tool then follow my 5 Twitter resolutions.

1. I want to give my customers what they want
Stop hard selling to them! Think about why they chose to follow you and change your style of tweets to match.

2. I want to update Twitter more regularly
You should be tweeting at least 4 times a day. I can hear you say I don't have enough time to do that. But one tweet a day means you can be easily missed.

3. I want to interact with my customer base
Check all @ and direct messages to you on a daily basis and ensure you reply. Twitter is about conversation and building relationships so look at what your followers are tweeting about and interact with them.

4. I want to know what is going on in the industry
Use a tool such as Hootsuite to set-up keywords for topics you want to know about. For example I want to follow anything that is said about my clients and their competitors so I set-up their company names as search terms.

5. I want to grow my followers
Promote that you are on Twitter in all the same places you would promote your web address. Plus add the Twitter widget to your website. Good Twitter practice will naturally generate organic growth.

Good luck with all your new years resolutions! So far I have stuck to mine but let's see how I am doing in a weeks time ;-)

Add a Facebook login to a secure area on your website

Tue, 03 May 2011

To make it quicker and easier for people to sign-up to Green Office Week, we have added a Facebook login to the site. All users need to do is click on the Facebook Login button at the top of the screen and agree for the website and Facebook to interact. On agreement the new participants in the week are taken straight to the password protected area to download all the resources for free.

Do you want to feel the love for organising?

Thu, 03 Feb 2011

Who would have thought we were such a romantic and caring species?

InDzine research carried out for leading office supplier, Avery, highlighted that if we managed to save an extra ten minutes a day, one of our preferred activities would be to give our partner or child an extra cuddle. The survey was completed in September 2010 with 1,629 European Avery Dennison consumers.

However with today's fast paced life the most popular ten minute activity was to sit in a comfortable chair and relax, closely followed by organising our files or office better. Surprisingly just 3% of us would watch TV and 6% would stay in bed longer, proving we do have a desire to be more organised.

InDzine have been working with Avery on the Love Organising campaign and created a variety of tools. Avery shared lots of time-saving and stress-busting tips to get us all more organised at work or home. The aim was to give everyone an extra ten minutes each day to spend as we wish.

But how much time are we actually wasting each day? In the research 44% of respondents said they spent over five minutes trying to find something when a colleague who is out of the office knows where it is. Another five minutes is wasted by 39% of us as we look for specific files in a cabinet. And 36% of us waste over five minutes as we have so many tasks we just don't know where to start.

As part of the Love Organising campaign consumers were able to request a free sample pack from the website which included a range of labels to kick-start their organising. This included Avery Filing Labels, Avery Removable Labels, Avery Self Adhesive Name Badges, Avery NoteTabs^TM and Avery Label Pads.

The website included lots of organisational advice including ten minute guides to filing, stress management and tidying your desktop. For those who want to give the Chinese tradition of Feng Shui a try there is a guide on How to Feng Shui your Desk. Avery also offered consumers the chance to win £1000 cash in a competition. This was called ‘Time to Get Organised - One minute, One label, One message'.

InDzine developed a Flash based competition which featured on the Love Organising website. Consumers were able to type in their special message on an Avery Label Pad template but they only had one minute to write it so quick thinking was required. The most favourite message was chosen to win the cash prize as well as runners up prizes for the funniest message, the most intuitive organiser and the most heart warming message.

How can you make your Facebook pages stand out in the crowd?

Mon, 22 Mar 2010

Customising Facebook, what you can and can't do

It is a common misconception that Facebook is fixed in what you can and can't do to the layout of your Fan page. In some sense, this is actually true, unlike MySpace, where you can pretty much ruin the look and feel to your hearts content, Facebook is actually much more stringent with what you are actually allowed to do.

This doesn't mean though that nothing is possible.. with some clever applications out there, you can add a bit of interaction, style and colour to your Fan Page.

See our own example at www.facebook.com/indzine. First off, we have the typical layout featuring the wall, and on the left the information box, the fans, photos and links. You can see we also have a "Twitter" box, this is where the customisation starts. It isn't hard to add in your own box on the left, and give your fans instant access to other areas of interest/expertise. This can promote content they might not have bothered searching through for.

Now, when it comes to the tabs at the top displayed in the main page area, both "Wall" and "Info" are fixed, and you cannot re-name or change the look of these. This keeps the Facebook brand more consistent and user friendly. Apart from these two tabs though, and the style of the top and left hand frame, the world as they say.. is your oyster.

Take a look at what we have done for our company About InDzine page. The main area of the page can be your own personal HTML, we have our images hosted on our live site and simply reference them here. The same is the case for our Contact InDzine form, where we reference the images and form handler direct from our site.

How exactly do we do this? It's actually a simple Facebook application that anyone can attach to their own pages. As I am administrator for the InDzine fan page I can edit/add and delete applications as and when I need them.

Why not get in contact with us for more information on how we can help you customise your own Facebook fan pages, it's not nearly as hard as you might think. You too can then have a more dynamic eye catching set of pages to promote your company, promote your hobby or just give the casual browser something nicer to look at!

Green Office Week raises awareness via Facebook and Twitter

Fri, 19 Mar 2010

Many of our clients are starting to think about approaching their marketing in different ways and with its cost-effectiveness and ease of use, social networking is becoming more and more popular. This year, Green Office Week is back for the 2nd year running and has jumped on the bandwagon that are Facebook and Twitter.

Green Office Week 2010 takes place from 26th to 30th April. The aim of the week is to encourage office workers to be more environmentally friendly in the workplace. From recycling to choosing green products, it’s reminding them that there are many environmental issues to consider. As well as social networking we have developed an interactive website, http://www.greenofficeweek.eu/, which is full of helpful advice and useful resources so you can create a greener working environment.

Social media sites such as Facebook are often seen by businesses as over-hyped and a fad, but even basic updates are meaningful to friends, customers or colleagues. According to Econsultancy Social Media and Online PR Report in November 2009, “73% of UK company’s say the major benefit of social media was increased brand awareness and with micro-blogging i.e. Twitter, is now the most widely used social media tool, used by 78% of company respondents and 74% of agency clients.”

With the right knowledge and enthusiasm, we can quickly share information with people who are interested in the Green Office Week campaign and build relationships with them. This means we can keep all the followers up-to-date with the progress of the campaign and also raise awareness of the website at the same time.

“We are really growing the awareness of Green Office Week via Facebook and Twitter. It’s so great to see our tweets being retweeted by others as they too see the importance of the campaign.”

Karen Fewell, Digital Marketing Consultant, InDzine

In order to achieve the most out of my working day and not spend all my time tweeting, every Friday I create a social media plan for the following week. This includes all the activity we will be doing on Facebook and Twitter. Such as the tweets, type of images and videos we should upload and the groups we should follow. This way it’s easy to implement during the week.

Over the last few months Avery has been busy recruiting Green Office Week Ambassadors. Their role is to help spread the word about environmental issues and encourage their company to think and act responsibly. Each Ambassador is going to be able to give us an insight into UK offices’ green practices while sharing their findings and approach with us. Follow them on the Green Office Week website to find out more, http://www.greenofficeweek.eu/.

“The team is always busy talking about the latest developments within the world of social media and comment on good practice they have seen. The Green Office Week campaign is something that every company can benefit from as it not only good for the environment but being green saves the company money too.”

Rick Bruce-Kelly, Director, InDzine

Become a fan of Green Office Week now on Facebook www.facebook.com/greenofficeweek

Twitter http://twitter.com/greenofficeweek

InDzine meets Colin Jackson

Tue, 10 Nov 2009

For National School Meal Week launch day

Visit : http://www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk

Two local companies get involved in National School Meals Week 2009

Fri, 06 Nov 2009

Two local companies have been working together to improve the health of young people as part of National School Meals Week (NSMW) 2009.

Digital marketing agency, InDzine, based in Marlow and Trojan Training, based in Maidenhead have played an important role in the weeks plans and representatives from both companies will be attending the launch on Monday, 9th November. During the launch Colin Jackson CBE will announce the result of Britain's favourite school meal at Morpeth Secondary School, Bethnal Green.

National School Meals Week runs from 9th to 13th November. It is organised annually by the Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA) to support a whole school approach to healthier eating by encouraging pupils and students to have a nutritious school meal and to adopt an active lifestyle.

Entitled "Get Involved", the 2009 Week is proving to be the biggest event ever with over 90 school meal provider organisations taking part, equating to approximately 16,000 Primary and Secondary schools.

This year's National School Meals Week has gone digital. For the first time, the Week is an online digital marketing campaign with activities operating through its website - www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk which is aimed at school caterers, head teachers, teachers, governors, parents and young people. Each day of the Week will feature different themes and events for Primary and Secondary schools including Get Eating, Get Cooking, Get Active, Get Filming and Get Thanking.

The National School Meals Week website was created by creative agency, InDzine and their Account Manager, Karen Fewell has played an integral part in this year's campaign. She worked with Chris Lee, Managing Director of Trojan Training on the Get Active Day which features Colin Jackson, who is the face of the week. Secondary School pupils can go online and complete a range of exercise at home or school.

Karen Fewell, Account Manager, InDzine said: "I have loved working on National School Meals Week. This digital marketing campaign has been a huge success for the InDzine team. We have included Tweets, a Facebook Fan page, blogs, videos and lots more on the interactive website at www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk What has made this campaign even more rewarding is knowing that what we are doing could change the health of our next generation. I can't wait to see everything come together this week!"

Chris Lee, Managing Director, Trojan Training said "When encouraging young people to exercise it is vital that we teach them to do it safely and correctly to prevent injury and to get maximum benefit. My role was to put together an exercise plan and ensure that Colin demonstrated all the exercises correctly. I put together the plans in way that would give teenagers fun exercises that can be done freely and without leaving the house. It's been a great project to work on as I feel very strongly that the information we give young people today about healthy lifestyles will stay with them forever. That is why role models like Colin Jackson are so important."

Visit www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk now and see the full plans for the week.

A Super Day at Indzine

Tue, 06 Oct 2009

On Friday 2nd October, the people of Marlow weren't seeing things. The InDzine office really was being run by superheroes!

For Jeans for Genes day, InDzine took on the world (well.. took on Avery Dennison) in a head to head quiz. A team from InDzine using all their super powers came out on top winning the first ever "Avery & Jeans 4 Genes" cup.

*Photo's courtesy of Bram Roos' Pretty Pink Camera

InDzine Takes on the World for Jeans 4 Genes Day!

Mon, 28 Sep 2009

After a busy couple of months of voting on www.indzine.co.uk, the votes have now been counted. The InDzine team will be coming to work dressed as their favourite Super Hero on Friday 2nd October in support of Jeans 4 Genes Day. Jeans 4 Genes is a children's national charity and every year in October, many organisations have a day of fundraising to support them.

As many of the InDzine team come to work in denim every day they wanted to do something a little different to raise money for the children's charity. One of InDzine's clients Avery Dennison has also accepted the challenge and the staff have chosen to wear their glad rags around the office. During the day both companies are having a head to head pub quiz in their fancy dress to raise as much money as they can for Jeans 4 Genes.

InDzine first supported Jeans 4 Genes when Karen Fewell, Digital Marketing Consultant for InDzine spent the day with the charity's employees. She gave them a free training day on the importance of Search Engine Optimisation. Karen said "Jeans 4 Genes is a great charity and as a company we all felt the need to join in the fundraising. I am sure each team members chosen Super Hero character will be influenced by the amount of lycra that has to be worn".

Jeans 4 Genes is a national charity, which helps children with genetic disorders. Although each disorder is very rare, these disorders together cause more than half of all childhood deaths in the UK. There are more than 4,000 recognised genetic disorders and there are countless others which doctors have yet to identify. Many of these conditions have no current treatment and lots more have no cure. This is what Jeans 4 Genes want to change and why InDzine has decided to put on their lycra and capes to raise money for this important cause.

A company donation is being made to the charity but if you would like to pledge your support, call InDzine now on 01628 898890. Any support will be greatly received.

Find out more about the day at the Genes for Jeans website
http://www.jeansforgenes.com/getinvolved

InDzine produces new landing pages for Lattitude gap year trips

Wed, 19 Aug 2009

Gap Year's have been Lattitude's thing for over 35 years. They are the original gap year charity, established since 1972 and have sent more than 20,000 young people around the world.

Lattitude has gap year projects in over 17 countries and volunteers come back from their gap year saying that the whole experience was so much better than if they had gone backpacking. When a volunteer travels on a Lattitude gap year they gain a deep understanding of the host country's culture and people. In addition to that volunteers learn new skills and return more confident and with a wider view of the world. Many of their gap year volunteers want to work where they will make a difference. They send volunteers on gap year projects that will have significant impact and where their presence is beneficial.

InDzine and Lattitude have been working together to produce website landing pages, concentrating on the two most popular gap year destinations, Australia and New Zealand. At this time of year young people around the UK receive their A level results and decide if they are going to take a gap year and if so where they would like to go. This in itself drove the need to raise awareness for gap year destinations in Australia and New Zealand.

To make a difference in the places where they will work on their gap year, volunteers are able to:

Become Teaching Assistants
Teach English
Work in community placements
Work in medical placements
Become volunteers in outdoor education camps

All this makes Lattitude one of the UK's top gap year charities, each volunteer is supported before and during their gap year travel to ensure that they get the most out of their gap year experience.

Find out more at the Lattitude website
http://www.lattitude.org.uk

Help InDzine Support Jeans for Genes on Friday 2nd October

Tue, 11 Aug 2009

Indzine will be supporting Jeans for Genes Day. As many of the team roll up to work in denim every day we have decided to do something a little different.

Everyone at InDzine will leave their jeans at home and come to work in fancy dress. The big question is . . . . what shall we dress up as? Here is where you can help. The team have proposed the ideas below and all you need to do is :
vote for your favourite idea .

Jerry: InDzine add chemistry
Is Karen hiding a genius behind the blonde exterior? We will find out when InDzine file into work dressed as Science Teachers.

Rick: I want an InDzine fairy tale
So who will be Grumpy? It will be a day of hard graft when InDzine turn up dressed as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Karen: InDzine go 4 gold!
So will Matt or Keith make a better Tom Daley? If Karen gets her way, the 2nd October will be very active as InDzine dress as Famous Athletes.

Tom: Who is your InDzine hero?
Everyone in the InDzine team has been known to come to the rescue at one point or another. So who will be Superman on the 2nd October when InDzine dress as Super Heroes?

Matt: InDzine and the Drag King and Queens.
Which member of the management team has the legs for it? Tom wants to dress as a woman so much, so let him come to work in Drag.

Keith: InDzine on beach batrol
They are all fighting to be the Hoff! Who will win? Things will be pretty hot at InDzine when the team dress as Baywatch.

Bram: It's monkey business at InDzine
Some of the team have been known to be cheeky monkeys in the past but for one day only they are allowed to go ape! Who do you think will be the cheekiest monkey?

Nicola: InDzine get Fruity
Will Nicola ever live down her bunch of grapes costume? To get her own back she wants everyone at InDzine to dress as items of fruit.

Paul: InDzine get stars in thir eyes
Who will show their red carpet glam when InDzine dress as stars of the stage and screen? We want to see some Oscar winning performances on Jeans for Genes Day when the team dress as Film Stars.

The themes don't necessarily tell you about the person who suggested them, but we think some of them are quite telling! Everyone will make their own contribution to Jeans for Genes for the privilege of coming to work looking silly! The voting closes on Friday 19th September 2009.

Vote Now!

Karen Fewell becomes a Tough Guy

Mon, 10 Aug 2009

The girly girl becomes a Tough Guy

I think it is fair to say that most people would describe me as a ‘girly girl' rather than a ‘Tough Guy'. Needless to say friends, family and colleagues were a little surprised when I said I had entered Tough Guy Nettle Warrior.

To be honest I am not really sure I knew what I had agreed to when I said ‘go on then count me in'. Knowing too much about the challenge would just make me freak out - so I paid my money unaware of the obstacles I would face! I was fully aware though that I was not fit enough to complete it and really needed to become stronger.

Chris Lee from Trojan Training encouraged me to do some weight training on top of my normal running. So my training week consisted of 2 personal training sessions with Chris Lee, 1 Box Office session and a few trips to the gym. Training was more enjoyable with Tough Guy being my aim.

A week before I decided it was time to start knowing a little more about what I would have to do on the day, I was not impressed with what I saw:

swimming through underwater tunnels
running through fire
walking out on a plank and jumping into mud
climbing heights with no harness

The fact that the Tough Guy organisers make you sign a death warrant before you can start the course also scared me slightly. But now I can say it was the best race I have ever done.

I went round the course with Amy and Helen, who also train with Chris Lee. The day didn't seem like a race, the team spirit of everyone at Tough Guy was fantastic. I saw people struggling on ropes and strangers climb back to help them. Someone was always willing to give you a ‘leg up' or a hand to climb out of sinking mud.

As I result of doing Tough Guy I have realised I have more mental and physical strength than I give myself credit for. On a day to day basis you don't realise what strength you are building in the gym. For me though the mental challenges I overcame were my biggest achievements. I am petrified of heights, yet at Tough Guy I developed a new inner strength. Whatever the challenge, however difficult, I just got on and did it.

Completing Tough Guy has given me a lot of personal confidence and I would like to thank Chris Lee for pushing me into doing it! Big thanks to everyone in Team Trojan for making it such a fun day.

InDzine support Jeans for Genes with free SEO training

Thu, 06 Aug 2009

Search Engine Optimisation Training with Jeans for Genes

Karen Fewell, Digital Marketing Consultant at InDzine visited Jeans for Genes today to talk about Search Engine Optimisation.

The National Jeans for Genes Day takes place on Friday 2nd October 2009. Our client Avery Dennison is supporting the week by providing easy to use fundraising templates, free label samples and more. As part of InDzine's Corporate and Social Responsibility Karen offered free SEO training for the Jeans for Genes team.

The training session included:

natural search / organic search
when and how to use paid search
the difference between on and off page optimisation
keyword selection
SEO obstacle reports
search optimised copy
inbound link strategies
online pr
social networking
the role of digital marketing in your marketing strategy

Excellent feedback was received from Jeans for Genes and everyone was scribbling down notes and their own action points. SEO is not just the responsibility of the website manager and everyone in the marketing team has their own role to play.

Please support Jeans for Genes Day on 2nd October 2009. The team work really hard to raise money for children with genetic disorders. Genetic disorders are individually very rare but together they are the cause of more than half of all childhood deaths in the UK. Jeans for Genes aim to provide funding for the care and support of children and their families. They also help to fund research into the genes responsible and the development of effective treatments and cures.

Find out more at the Genes for Jeans website
http://www.jeansforgenes.com/getinvolved

InDzine do Box Office

Fri, 31 Jul 2009

Every Tuesday after work myself and the rest on the InDzine Team wait outside in trepidation of what ‘Circuit Training' will involve today. After a few minutes warming up and getting our heart rate up we embark on a series of fat burning and muscle toning activities.

"What I like is the fact that all the exercises are so simple, yet so effective and I really enjoy the helpful encouragement from our trainer, Chris Lee a Personal Trainer with Trojan Training."
Paul Fowler, Online Marketing Executive, InDzine

Encouraged by Chris Lee who sets out a series of exercises from Wide Arm Press Up's to Gun Drills to Shuttle Runs to Boxing. It is all conducted in a safe environment, and Chris provides expert advice when needed.

"I have really enjoyed the Box Office sessions; I found it a great addition to my weekly workout. I have seen definite improvement in my general fitness as well as working muscle groups I don't normally concentrate on"
Thomas Birtwistle, Senior Developer, InDzine

All the exercises are easy to do and you can work at your own rate. However, you are encouraged by Chris to push and achieve a really good work out.

"I have been surprised just how enjoyable Box Office has been. I was a little unsure at first quite how intense it might be, but although challenging, you can still work at your own pace and are encouraged to push yourself that little bit more each time"
Keith Potter, Technical Project Manager, InDzine

Afterwards everyone looks exhausted, but they say they all feel ten times better and start to look forward to the next class.

"I am loving Box Office!! It has got the whole team taking regular exercise which in turn has resulted in a more productive and happy workforce. I did not really believe that regular exercise would make a difference to concentration levels . . . but it has and my team are performing really well at work. All ready to book the next course of 10 sessions."
Karen Fewell, Marketing Manager, InDzine

For more information about Trojan Training, please visit their website:

Trojan Training

Vote for Britain's Favourite School Meal

Sat, 25 Jul 2009

As part of National School Meals Week, we are trying to find out what Britain's favourite school meal is. Think back to your school days, was it roast dinner, sausage and mash or fish and potato wedges? And then comes the desserts, my favourite was definitely sponge and custard!

Get Voting now and let us know your favourite at

www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk/vote

The results will be announced at the launch of the week, on Monday 9th November 2009

Congratulations Tom Daley

Wed, 22 Jul 2009

I am proud to be working with such a fantastic role model and determined athlete. I am the project lead on the My School Lunch Tom Daley website and love working with Tom:

www.myschoollunch.co.uk/tomdaley

Since our contract began we have seen Tom go from one success to another. Tom really does deserve to be World Champion, he is so dedicated to his sport and overcomes every challenge that faces him.

Behind Tom is a great family, so fun and supportive. I loved Rob's question in the press conference, what a proud Dad! Tom's response ‘how embarrassing' just brings it home to you, those were the words of a teenager! To be World Champion at any age is fantastic, but for Tom this is an even bigger achievement and he is a credit to British sport.

Leon Taylor, Olympic Silver medallist and commentator at the World Championships said it all in a text to me this morning - ‘Tom is a legend'.

National School Meals Week

Mon, 13 Jul 2009

InDzine are working with AVF Marketing to run National School Meals Week 2009. The week runs from the 9th -13th November and InDzine has just launched the website at www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk

Karen Fewell worked with Nicola Proud from AVF Marketing last week on the National School Meals Week stand at the LACA conference. So many schools and authorities complimented us on the new design for the week and how interactive it is all going to be.

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/nsmw
View the YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/getinvolvednsmw
And check out the website at: www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk
Facebook, Bebo and more will be added soon!

Get Voting
Whilst you are at www.iloveschoolmeals.co.uk take part in the big vote. Go back to your school days and remember your favourite school meal. Enter it in the vote and wait for the National and regional results on 9th November.

What is gobbledygook?

Fri, 03 Apr 2009

A big part of my job is getting across a message in an interesting way that is easy for readers to understand. So gobbledygook is something that must be avoided! But what is gobbledygook? To help me explain I went on to www.plainenglish.co.uk and used their Gobbledygook Generator. Below you can see a few examples of what it brought up.

“At base level, this just comes down to interactive monitored consulting.”

“The consultants recommend regenerated logistical options.”

“The solution can only be global relative processing.”

Are you able to understand these phrases? If so you are much more intelligent than me but copy like this still exists in many organisations. Just look at some examples of things you read over the next week. Is the copy easy to understand? Could it be made any clearer? I’d love to see any examples you found.

I’m a great believer in the Plain English Campaign, which aims to ensure everyone has access to clear and concise information. At InDzine we can either arrange for copy to be written for you or review copy you have written to make sure it is written in a style that can be understood.

Karen

Great little Business Card Pads

Tue, 17 Mar 2009

InDzine are helping Avery Dennison promote their Brand and Print service using digital marketing techniques. www.averybrandandprint.co.uk has a number of products ideal for small to medium sized businesses. Their product range includes clever laptop skins that you can brand with your own company logo or imagery. Brand & Print can also help you save yourself time with jobs like label mail merges and creating CD & DVD labels for proposals and presentations.

Just this week they have launched a brand new business card service. Rather than getting your business cards in a box, Avery Brand & Print business cards are given to you in a neat little booklet. Each booklet contains 25 cards and you just tear a card off as you need them. As soon as I saw the business card pad, I thought they would be great for carrying around in my handbag.

Check them out online at www.averybrandandprint.co.uk

Please have an accessible website

Mon, 16 Mar 2009

Over the weekend I was thinking how frustrating it must be for a blind person not to be able to get the same information as me. Or a deaf person to miss out on hearing the words of a video or podcast I was listening to. The information you have on your website is valuable and many people could be missing out on it. Don’t risk losing new customers or old ones by having a website that is not accessible.

Find out more at www.w3.org and contact us to see how we can help you.

Matt

InDzine supports red nose day!!

Wed, 11 Mar 2009

The team at InDzine love the clever digital marketing idea produced by the people at Comic Relief. So to show our support, take a look at us with our Digital Red Noses. To get your own visit: www.digitalrednose.com

Thanks everyone

Karen Fewell - Digital Marketing Consultant

Richard Bruce-Kelly - Creative Director

Thomas Birtwistle - Senior Web Developer

Matt Nightingale - Web Developer

Keith Potter - Technical Project Manager

David Clark - Designer

Social Networking - a different approach

Mon, 09 Mar 2009

I am often asked to give examples of well known brands using social networking. So the recent changes to the Skittles homepage seems a good example to highlight.

Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia . . . . . how do they all link together? Well in the case of Skittles they got rid of their homepage and re-directed it to a real time Twitter feed. Obviously many marketers thought this was a brave and risky decision as after all people could be writing anything about the brand. Media reports did not only cover the risk, they also questioned the appropriateness of Twitter. Twitter demographics don’t match the typical Skittles consumer with the majority of Twitter uses being older and not even having kids.

On day 2 of the campaign they re-directed their homepage to their Facebook page and at present if you visit www.skittles.com it now links to their Wikipedia page.

Over the top of the page, there is a navigation application that enables you to view the Twitter feed and the Facebook page.

I am interested to see how this campaign develops and if any other brands will take the risk. I personally believe that customers and consumers are highlighting their feelings about brands in social networks anyway. Campaigns like this enable brands to respond.

The night we won 2 awards

Mon, 24 Nov 2008

Well what a great evening I had last night. I attended the CatererSearch Web Awards in my new green party dress and sparkly shoes. We had been shortlisted in two categories and then all entrants were put forward for the overall winner of Website of the Year.

You can find out more about the awards here: http://www.caterersearch.com/blogs/hospitality-web-awards

The first award we were shortlisted in was the Foodservice Award, unfortunately we did not win this - but as I had promised my boss, I did my losers smile and clapped happily just like at the Oscars! Little did I know how much better the evening was about to get.

Then came the Award for Innovation & Interactivity . . . I listened to the description of the winning website and thought to myself this might just be us! And it was, so up on stage we went to collect a nice shiny silver statue, pose for photos and smile a lot.

The final award of the evening was for Website of the Year. Anyone in the room could win this and it was decided by a combination of the voting public and judges recommendations. The competition was fierce with well known brands such as McCain, hotel chains and top restaurants. Again as they started to describe the winning site, I was thinking this all sounds a lot like http://www.myschoollunch.co.uk/. I have to say I grinned from ear to ear when they read our names as the winner and I pretty much skipped onto the stage to collect another shiny statue.

Wow, what a feeling, to be the overall winner, I am so pleased to have the work I and the rest of the team have put into producing a great website recognised across the whole of the Hotel & Catering industry.

Thank you to you all!

Don't be scared of writing a blog

Thu, 29 May 2008

I asked team members who don’t normally write for the company to contribute to the InDzine blog. As expected I did get a little resistance and queries as to why they had to do it.

There are a good number of reasons why you will see new contributors appearing on the company blog. First and foremost you don’t want to read just my views, how boring! There is no ‘one single person’ that will help you at InDzine, you can pick up the phone and talk to anyone in the team. And often the final solution we deliver to you is created from a combination of everyone’s knowledge - so our blog should be the same.

We are a friendly bunch and I want that to come across in our blog. So bookmark the blog and return in a week or so and see what is new. Oh yeah and let me know if you have a topic you would like us to write about.

Karen Fewell, Digital Marketing Consultant

Who says social networking is not work?

Wed, 28 May 2008

Has your boss banned you from Facebook at work? Does your manager think social networking is a distraction?

I am now using social networking for work. In my lunch hour yesterday I logged on to check my personal plans for the party I am going to tonight. But then I got distracted with ways Facebook can help my clients. Within an hour I had:

read messages in specialist groups where I could respond with solutions provided by one client
helped raise the awareness of a promotional campaign for a charity I am working with
gained feedback on new logo designs for a client moving their business forward for the digital age

It got me thinking, so I typed http://www.youtube.co.uk/ and came up with even more ideas! My colleague called me a geek, but I used del.icio.us to social bookmark all the pages so I can show my clients ways they can move their marketing forward in the age of web2.0.

If you would like me to come and talk to you about digital marketing then email Karen@indzine.co.uk

Karen Fewell, Digital Marketing Consultant

So why is SEO important?

Tue, 27 May 2008

You need to know something, how do you find it out? If you are like the majority of the UK population, you will use a search engine. When you enter a word or phrase you usually get thousands if not millions of results. 80% of users never look through results beyond page 2 or 3 at a push.

So if you're a business trying to sell your products and services online you will be interested to know that 60% of ecommerce transactions happen as a result of a click in a search engine, getting your site as high up in the rankings as possible is a must in getting noticed and selling online.

If you're not using the latest search engine optimisation methods on your site, then you can bet that your competitors are, you're the ones now losing sales. Those who've put time in optimising their site will be getting that advantage over you and taking away your potential audience.

Think about it; when you consider what traditional marketing tools cost these days compared to putting yourself online, doesn't it seem complete madness that you're not using this cheap method of advertising to it's full potential.

SEO as an industry is changing all the time, so stay ahead of the game & make sure you are doing these following things:

keeping your content up to date,
keeping the content relevant to your topic,
making sure it's easy to read,

and most of all

4. making it useful to people reading it.

The more valuable the content, the more people you will get linking to your pages and this can only help your search engine position.

Keith Potter, Technical Project Manager