GWS Media Ltd

Weekly Round-Up:Pinterest Resources, Facebook Engagement and Food Animation

2012-02-17T10:00:00.000Z

Van Gogh's Starry Night has received an interesting makeover

Bristol has started to feel rather spring-like this week, so we're looking forward to taking more photos for our Bristol Unique Guide App in the not too distant future.

The new website for BAWA - a well-known social and sports club in North Bristol - has gone live. You can find out about their health insurance and Bristol Entertainments, including quiz nights, rock 'n' roll and some excellent tribute bands.

Businesses using social media

The rise of interest in Pinterest continues - they seem to be THE social media story of 2012 so far, and with good reason as users keep rising (Mashable reported this week that daily users are up 125%). For anyone interested in using it for business, this detailed list of 30 resources for marketing your business on Pinterest is definitely worth a look.

Social Media Examiner continues to a very useful site for all things social media, and here are 2 really useful posts on increasing Facebook engagement: 6 tips on increasing your Facebook edgerank and exposure and 5 ways to increase your Facebook fan engagement.

We enjoyed Heidi Cohen's social media spin on Valentine's Day this week. Her list of 77 ways to share social media love contains some useful prompts and tips.

Still not sure about Twitter? This article features an interesting perspective on the power of Twitter.

Design & Technology

We loved this amazing and inventive stop-motion animation of Michael Pollan's Food Rules:

"Food Rules" by Michael Pollan - RSA/Nominet Trust competition from Marija Jacimovic on Vimeo.

And as iPad application designers, we can't resist this iPad dry erase board.

When it comes to tech brands, it seems that Apple is everyone's favourite.

Now it's your turn!
If you've featured any useful tips, advice or other interesting posts on your blog this week, concerning social media, technology or design, please add a link to it in the comments!

Facebook: Building Your Network

2012-02-15T14:05:00.005Z

Last week we have featured a follow up post to our article on Social Media Strategy: Building Your Network with tips and advice on using Twitter's list facility. This week we thought it would be good to offer some pointers that are all about building a network on Facebook.

If you have a page for your business on Facebook - and if you don't yet have a page, you should definitely consider it - there are things you can do, aside from posting content that will feed into greater visibility and interaction.

1. 'Like' other pages. Although for personal profiles the whole point is to create reciprocal relationships with friends, this is not always the most obvious thing to do as a business page. However, treating your Facebook page as something that other people come to for information about your business is only one part of the story. By liking other pages you can start to build a business to business network and interact with other pages in the way you would like others to interact and engage with yours - you can see their posts in your page's news feed, just as you would see posts from your friends. It is very easy to create the link from your page to another. If you visit another page, scroll down to the text under their featured 'likes' on the left side of the page. From here you can click on 'Add to my page's favourites'.

2. Ask questions. Using Facebook's questions feature is a great way to encourage interaction. It is also a great way to reach other people who don't know about you. To make your question reach more people, you can ask specific friends via your personal page. Whenever someone answers a question, it appears in their news feed, and so is visible to their friends. In this way the question facility has potential for spreading virally. It also feeds more directly into the interactivity that Facebook encourages and rewards in the way that it features posts on the newsfeed.

3. Invite Friends. The friends you have as a person on Facebook are a great resource for your business page, but you can't just leave it up to them to notice you have a business page. Facebook allows you to invite friends to like your page - if you go to the right of your page's home page, while using your personal profile (if you are logged in as your page you won't see this) there is a link to 'invite friends'. If you click this, another box with a list of all your friends will appear and you can select who you want to invite.

These are just some of the many ways to grow your network on Facebook - next week we will take a look at how Facebook insights can help you too. If you have a Facebook page - please link to it in the comments below and we will take a look!

Weekly Round-Up: Social Networking, More on Pinterest and Street Art

2012-02-10T10:00:00.000Z

An amusing guide to social media via SwissMiss

At GWS Media this week, we've had the usual busy run of meetings and networking events, including meetings to discuss some smartphone App projects. We're also very excited to be working on a great website design project: we've been chosen to redesign the website for British Mensa, which is fantastic, especially following our work on Mensa's international site (to read more about that project, see this interview with our design team).

Businesses using social media

Here are two useful posts from Social Media Examiner: their top 10 social media blogs - always worth having a look at what they're doing well, not to mention the tips and advice you can pick up; also worth looking at is 3 new apps to manage your social networks, for potentially useful tools to streamline your use of social media.

Last week we featured an article on Pinterest highlighting its growing importance as a referral for selling online. For anyone who wants to know more, this in-depth look at Pinterest covers a great deal of ground, and this look at 7 ways to use Pinterest to promote your business contains some useful tips.

If you're attending a business exhibition, this article on maximising your presence using insights from eye-tracking research (how we look at websites) is worth a read.

Art & Technology

Paris vs NY by Vahram Muratyan

We're always keeping an eye on mobile phone technology, and this week we were excited to see that someone has brought an great green design idea to the smartphone - a phone made out of bamboo!

It's always interesting to see the way design can communicate ideas efficiently, so we've been enjoying this great series of images comparing New York and Paris - fascinating to see how this bold but minimal designs can communicate key cultural comparisons and differences.

We often feature items on street art, which is such an important part of the art scene and history of Bristol. This week we enjoyed this photo series on the artist being called Moscow's Banksy and this fascinating look at how this 3D street art is achieved.

Bristol

The big news in Bristol this week has been concerning the Bristol Pound - a currency being set up by a group of independent traders with the aim of boosting the local economy. This article on BBC news goes through the hows and whys, as well as its potential impact.

Twitter Lists: Why and How to Use Them

2012-02-09T10:19:00.003Z

As an additional note to our blog post last week: Social Media Strategy: Building Your Network we thought that it would be worth mentioning how and why to use Twitter lists, as they offer another element of social media strategy that can assist with building your network.

What are they? Twitter's list function allows you to group twitter accounts you follow into specific categories. If you go to your list of followers and then click on the head icon to the right of any

particular person, this will show a dropdown menu including the option to 'add to list'. If you click on this, another box will appear which allows you to create a new list, or add to an existing one. If you make your list public, then other people can follow your list.

Why should you use them? We think there are 3 main benefits to using Twitter lists:

Lists allow you to focus. The more people you follow on Twitter, the more the information being offered can start to feel unmanageable. Creating a list allows you to focus on one section of the conversation - if you group people you follow by particular themes or business networks, then you can focus on one element of your interest at once. This is particularly useful if you follow a range of different people on Twitter.
Lists are a useful resource. If you've grouped other users into a group based on a particular area of your business or on an aspect of your local community, then this offers other users a potentially useful resource. Because other people can follow your lists (as long as you make them public) then this provides the opportunity for them to see who you regard as important in a particular area. Creating and curating lists on Twitter can therefore offer an additional resource to your peers, clients or potential clients - it signals your knowledge of an area and lets others access it. Equally, you can get inspiration from the lists other people have curated and ideas on who to follow.
Lists are inclusive. Adding people to a list on Twitter signals that you see them as important and relevant to a particular topic. This acknowledgement of their worth is a useful addition to the ways you can build your network on social media - it generates good feeling, and has the potential to lead to a reciprocal communication.

Now it's your turn!

Have you been using the lists feature on Twitter in another way? Would you like to showcase your Twitter resources? Please include a link to your Twitter account in the comments below and we will have a look at your use of Twitter lists.

Weekly Round-Up: Pinterest, Facebook IPO and iPad App Design

2012-02-03T10:00:00.000Z

A Barbie reworking of Warhol's Marilyn print via The Guardian

This week we were delighted to welcome a new programmer to the GWS team. We've also been updating to the site for Bristol-based Italian Restaurant, Giuseppe's and on working on promotion for specialists in exotic meats, Gribbles' Butchers.

Like the rest of the country, Bristol has been in the full grip of winter all week, but has also been treating us to some beautiful sunshine and dramatic sunsets, not to mention exciting events and things to see, like the photographic exhibition at the MShed: Norman Parkinson - An Eye for Fashion.

Businesses using social media:
Still wondering about how to incorporate Google Plus into your social media strategy? It might be worth reading this paper on how it works and the opportunities it offers.

If you're selling online it is worth your while to consider using Pinterest as part of your social media strategy. This online inspiration board has been generating lots of buzz over the last year, and, according to this article, has a serious impact as a referral tool for online sales.

If you're running any kind of social media campaign, be it blogging, Facebook, You Tube or Twitter, you need to have a strategy for dealing with negative comments. This post deals with how to respond (or not) to critical comments, offering some potentially useful tips.

The big news in social media this week was Facebook's IPO announcement - Mashable put together responses to this that were made via social media (along with a variety of other links to articles concerning this development).

Art & Design

poster by Saul Bass

We frequently enjoy the in-depth design posts by Smashing Magazine, and this week was no exception, with their look at designing iPad apps: 10 things to think about when designing an iPad App.

Other sources of inspiration this week came from this post on examples of dark colours in web design and a look at design posters from the 1970s.

The Guardian featured work by an artist who uses barbies to recreate famous artworks, with some very intriguing results.

Now it's your turn!
If you've featured any useful tips, advice or other interesting posts on your blog this week, concerning social media, technology or design, please add a link to it in the comments!

Social Media Strategy: Building Your Network

2012-02-02T15:13:00.005Z

Last week we offered some tips on developing a brand voice on Twitter, so to carry on the theme of Social Media strategy, we thought we would offer some advice on the next step: building your network. Once you've got started on Twitter, Facebook etc. and you've decided what your agenda is, the next thing to do is make connections. Building up a network is certainly about making yourself visible, but it also has other important impacts on your social media presence.

1. Conversation
The power of Social Media is its emphasis on interaction. Twitter and Facebook offer ways for users to interact with one another, and for businesses this has great advantages of promoting the human side of a company, allowing consumers and clients to get a greater understanding of what you do and who you are, as well as offering opportunities for crowdsourcing and feedback. It also gives you opportunity to interact with people in the same field, or business community. Think about these benefits when you are deciding who to follow or like: who do you want to communicate with, and what community do you want to be a part of (local or industry specific, for example)?

2. Association
Another important element of building a following is to think about who you want to be associated with. People will judge you by your network, so you need to think about which associations could be beneficial. Even if you aren't necessarily interacting with them, there will be people you will want to be associated with - important people in your sector perhaps - so that anyone looking at your profiles on Twitter or Facebook will see that you have a good knowledge of your community. Equally, it is just as important to think about who it is appropriate to be associated with, as it is important to think about your profiles being professional, even if they are social in nature.

3. Amplification
The importance of being strategic about who you interact and associate with on social media is that it plays a big part of your potential influence on social media. While building a network is important for communicating who you are and what you are about, it is also significant in determining how your following increases and how far your messages go. If you align yourself with influential members of your community, and interact with them in a friendly way, then they are more likely to respond to you. Their interaction will be registered by their followers and thus increase your visibility in the right directions. For example, on Twitter, by building the right kind of community and establishing a responsive and friendly relationship with others, that will lead to more retweets and thus amplification of your message. For all the cynicism and stereotypes that accompany people's behaviour on the internet, social media is more often about friendly interactions, so that if you are helpful and supportive, that will usually be rewarded with reciprocal support.

So when you've set up your social media profile, do track down the relevant people in your sector or industry and think about connections you would like to make, as well as ones you already have. A good way to do this is to look up the people your connections or influencers follow.

Now it's Your Turn
We'd like to take the opportunity to grow our social networks: share links to your Social Media profiles in the comments below and we will get in touch!

Weekly Round-Up: Social Media Apps & Stats, SOPA update and the New Design Museum

2012-01-27T10:30:00.000Z

Fabulous edible type by m-inspira via @laughingsquid

This week seems to have shot by with a full round of networking events and meetings. We're delighted to have started work on promotion for a health and safety consultant, as well as carrying on with design work for Brace, a charity raising money for research into Alzheimer's.

Bristol is all abuzz with events this week, ranging from the Slapstick Festival celebrating silent comedy which started yesterday to the MShed's Chinese New Year events over this weekend. We're continually refreshed to see how active and creative Bristol is, and we've also been enjoying looking through photos for our Bristol Unique Guide (and sharing some of them on Twitter).

Businesses using social media

We shared some of our Twitter tips here on the blog this week, so we thought this look at useful Twitter Apps from Mashable might be worth looking at too.

Whatever point you are at with your social media campaign, we feel it's always worth taking stock and reflecting on how you do things. This article on how to find your social media stride has some advice that is potentially useful for everyone.

The Next Web featured some fascinating statistics giving an insight into the world of generation Y (13-24 year olds) including brand awareness, gadget ownership and technology usage. Definitely worth a look.

SOPA update

Last week we featured a whole host of links to do with the Stop Online Piracy Act, so we thought these links might be interesting: a follow up by The Guardian and a video illustrating how people on twitter reacted to the internet blackout.

Design

Apparently Dickens was interested in the world of interior design.

The plans for the new design museum in London - set to open in 2014 - have been revealed and certainly looks like it will be an impressive space, reusing the currently disused Commonwealth building.

This in-depth look at what successful products might teach us about website design makes for a fascinating read, particularly the emphasis on simplicity and the usefulness of evolving something slowly and with many iterations.

Now it's your turn!

If you've featured any useful tips, advice or interesting posts on your blog this week, concerning social media, technology or design, please add a link to it in the comments.

How to develop your Twitter presence: voice

2012-01-25T14:31:00.004Z

As we mentioned in a previous post, one of the topics we would be focusing on this year is social media marketing, and more specifically, tips on how to develop your Twitter presence. We thought we would kick this off with one of the more fundamental, but perhaps hardest, aspect of presence.

The development of your 'voice' on Twitter is crucial to determining the tone of your interactions and communciations on this social media platform. It is something that you need to think about in relation to all aspects of social media, but is particularly important to Twitter, which has a much more conversational tone built into it. However, establishing the tone of your brand or company can be quite difficult, especially if there are multiple people tweeting for the company (one way to approach this issue might be to have each person sign their tweets, thus transparently signalling who is saying what rather than trying to stick to a single 'voice'). We've come up with some tips to help with establishing your business' 'voice' on Twitter.

1. Brainstorm. A useful first exercise is to brainstorm qualities you want for your presence. Think of the top personality traits you want to incoporate, almost thinking of your Twitter presence as a person. Ask yourself: what are their interests? what would they engage with? what are they passionate about? Thinking about your Twitter presence is about projecting an image of your business, so what kind of person do you want people to associate with it? Listing qualities will help you to clarify these issues, and will also give you something to come back to, and remind yourself of now and then (particularly useful if the account has multiple contributors).

2. Establish an agenda. Thinking about your 'voice' should go hand in hand with establishing your agenda for using Twitter as these two considerations are necessarily intertwined. Think about what kind of information you want to share - will you be posting promotions and offers, or offering your expertise about your industry? The nature of the conversation you want to particpate in will determine to a large extent the kind of tone you will be taking.

3. Consider what is appropriate. What you do, or the nature of your brand will to a great extent determine what kind of tone you take. It will also influence what is appropriate. A chatty and jokey persona might not be appropriate for a law firm, but it might be just the ticket for a range of other businesses. Think about how you present yourself in real-life situations - at networking events, conferences etc - and this might guide your tone of voice in the virtual world.

Even if you are the principal contributor to your Twitter profile, and to representing your business, it is worth considering these points. While it might be easier for you to establish a tone, as you've already done that in other areas, it makes sense to put some thought into how you will be presenting your company elsewhere.

Over to You

What did you think about before embarking on Twitter? Let us know your top tips, and include a link to your Twitter profile in the comments below.

Weekly Round-Up: Social Media Success, SOPA and Tech predictions of 2012

2012-01-20T10:30:00.000Z

Loving this Movies from an Alternative Universe poster series

Thanks to everyone who has given us feedback on the blog over the past couple of weeks - if you've got any suggestions for features that would be useful to you, please do let us know.This week we've been enjoying a cold and sunny Bristol (blue monday? Not here), with plenty of meetings and a Bristol Business Networking lunch. We've also been working on promotion for clients, including Prom Dress and occasion wear specialist, Drop Dead Gorgeous and Bristol Bed and Breakfast provider, Downlands House.

Businesses using social media:

Do you have a strategy for your Business Facebook presence? This article on growing Facebook Fans is worth reading to consider the various ways you could be making more of an impact.

Social Media Examiner is always worth a look in our book, and this week they featured 2 very useful articles: 5 tips for making your brand more social and 3 successful Google+ pages and why they work (if you saw our round-up last week with features on changes to Google search, this is a very useful follow up).

SOPA

There has been lots of buzz on the web this week about SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), with various sites (including Wikipedia and Reddit shutting down on Wednesday in protest). Although this is a US Act, it does have consequences for anyone using the internet, as many big websites will be affected by it (Google, Facebook, You Tube etc) are US-based. If you're not entirely sure what the bill's impact could be, we've collected a few different items focusing on SOPA

Videos from The Guardian and Fight for the Future (via Swiss Miss)
Why I want to Bring Down the Internet for a Day - A report from The Independent on the blackouts on Wednesday
Why SOPA is dangerous via Mashable, who also featured a collection of SOPA memes and a gallery of what the internet would look like after SOPA.

Tech & Design

What will 2012 bring us in mobile marketing tech? Here are some interesting predictions.

Good news for investors in Apps: Tablets are taking over the computer marketplace.

Google search used for art: an amazing algorithmic video created using Google Image search

Bristol

We're loving this video created by Visit Bristol - celebrating everything good about the city we live in!

Now it's your turn!

If you've featured any useful tips, advice or interesting posts on your blog this week, concerning social media, technology or design, please add a link to it in the comments below!

GWS Blog in 2012

2012-01-18T16:28:00.004Z

A couple of weeks ago we put up a poll on the blog (and on Facebook) to see what kind of content our readers have enjoyed on the blog, and what they would like to see more of. Thanks very much to everyone who voted on the blog and on Facebook. We thought going through the results would be a useful process to feed into and influence the kind of content coming up on the blog, and to leave the door firmly ajar for more crowdsourcing of blog topics open.

The results show an interest in previous posts focusing on technology developments (we've featured posts on the iPad) and website design, so we will definitely carry on with these subjects for this year, including:

updates on tablet technology
mobile website design
user experience and usability
Inspirational website design

The results also show a strong interest in featuring more posts focussing on Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and 'How to' posts. In the coming weeks we will be looking at these areas, including:

the rise of Google+
the impact of the increasing personalization of Google Search on SEO
How to put together a social media marketing campaign
How to develop your presence on Twitter (including finding a brand 'voice')

Over to You

What subjects would you like covered? Let us know in the comments below. Do you have a blog that focuses on any of these topics? If so, put a link to it in the comments below and we might feature you here.

As always we can be found on Facebook, Twitter & Google+

Weekly Round-Up: Google Search Gets Personal, Ecomerce Web Design & Bristol News

2012-01-13T10:30:00.000Z

Amazing image of Iceland via The Fox is Black

Another busy week has passed by here in the GWS office. We've been working on promotion for Bookkeepers and Management Accounts specialist, BookCheck and Bristol Family Solicitors Battrick Clark. We're also delighted that our Bristol Unique Guide App has been launched on Android (you can read about the details of that here).

Here's what's been catching our eyes this week:

For Businesses using Social Media:

The biggest news in online marketing this week is that Google has launched 'social search', integrating Google+ into Google search more fully. This is not an unexpected move, particularly considering the increased relevance of social engagement to Google search over the past year, and it will be interesting to see how this develops.There have been various responses to this development: Social Media Examiner focussed on how you can use Google+ to impact search, Bloggertone suggested that this could mean better recommendations and easy access to information about your brand, and from The Economist identified it as a response to the rise of Facebook and a desire to boost revenue.

This development also comes in the wake of news that Google+ had it's highest traffic to date in December. If you haven't joined yet, it might looks increasingly to be worth the effort. Here is a useful guide to getting started on Google +.

New year is always full of resolutions, so why not take the opportunity to check out the new features of social media platforms, like Facebook's new Timeline layout.

Design & Technology

Guy Laramee's book carving

If you invested in an iPad over Christmas, you will be pleased to know that they're pretty tough: someone dropped an iPad from space and it survived! (Definitely falls under the 'don't try this at home' category!)

This in-depth look at the design of product pages on ecomerce sites makes for a very interesting read, lots for anyone selling online to think about.

These amazing sculptures created from carved books caught our eyes this week - what a transformation!

Bristol News

Hot off the press is the news that the legendary Ashton Court Music festival is to be reinvented via the transplantation of Brisfest to the site. Excellent news for all Bristol music fans.

Anyone looking for things to do this week should have a look at list of 10 events and entertainments.

Bristol Unique Guide App - Android Version

2012-01-12T10:13:00.003Z

Every time we've had some news of our Bristol Unique Guide App, we've shared it here - new versions, or trips to new places to include - as well as featuring some posts on App design and development more generally. In December of last year, there was another milestone in the development of our Bristol Guide: the launch of the Android version. To mark this new stage in the App's life, we thought we would share some details of its new incarnation.

Why Android?

Our Bristol Guide App has been available on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch for a while now, so why did we put it onto Android? iPhone Apps certainly dominate the app market (a state of affairs that The Guardian featured an interesting article on recently: will Android Apps be worth the effort for developers in 2012?), yet Android devices are the primary choice for consumers (accounting for over 50% of smartphones, compared to only 29% iPhones). Even though we put the App out first on the iPhone/iPad, we planned to release an Android version, chiefly to maximise the guide's appeal - for an app that has such a broad appeal, it was doubly important to make it available to all (also part of our decision to keep it a free download).

Is it different?

In a word, no. The content is exactly the same, and so are the images provided. The only real difference is that in the Android version you can choose to download whatever extra images of each place listed are available. The App provides the initial image, and then gives you the option to download more, so that it doesn't take up too much space on your device. We decided that consistency across devices was of primary importance, though again, it would be interesting to see if there is information about any differences (if any) in the ways the different Application platforms are used, for future releases.

We're delighted that our App has now gained around 5000 downloads across all platforms so far. As always, we're always looking to add further destinations to our Bristol Unique Guide, so let us know if there is anywhere in Bristol you think should be included.

You can download the Android version here, and the iPhone version here.

Weekly Round-Up: Social Media Predicitions, Creative Inspiration and Bristol in 2012

2012-01-06T11:00:00.000Z

what does 2012 hold for you?

Things have been very busy at GWS since the end of the Christmas break: we've been working on the MAS directory and the new website for Bristol Optician Lynne Fernandes. As well as mentioning our current work, we wanted to highlight a couple of charitable endeavours. Above & Beyond, who raise funds for local hospitals, have launched a recycling initiative to raise money and decrease landfill. For more information on how you can help, click here. We're delighted to have been involved with a group raising money for Wallace & Gromit's Grand Appeal and Parkinson's UK by cycling from Bristol to Barcelona - you can donate money & learn more about the project by visiting their Facebook page.

Businesses using social media:

Want to grow your Facebook following? Amy Porterfield has a really useful video outlining how looking at your Facebook Insights can identify the ways people get to your page and then how to optimize this traffic.

More on the analytics front - Mashable featured a potentially helpful look at the key areas of Google's updated analytics package.

Blogging on your business can sometimes leave you feeling uninspired. Other bloggers can be a great source of inspiration - this week Bloggertone featured 6 key figures in blogging to look out for.

What will be big in social media this year? It's always good to stay ahead of the curve, so check out these social media predictions from the professionals featured on Social Media Examiner whichcould be just the thing to feed into your thoughts on strategy for this year.

Art & Design

Ad by Ronald Searle

We were sad to hear the news of iconic British cartoonist Ronald Searle this week - there were some good tributes to his life and work from his friend and fellow cartoonist Gerald Scarfe and Creative Review.

The Guardian featured a fascinating look at how artists from a variety of disciplines get their creative inspiration - makes interesting and potentially very practical reading!

Two key elements of a successful website is usability and conversion - this article looks at the design process feeding into websites as a series of flows, rather than pages.

Bristol News & Events

There are so many exciting things coming up in Bristol this year and Bristol Culture blog has put together a fantastic round-up of many of them - lots to look out for!

Now it's your turn

If you've featured any useful tips, advice or interesting posts no your blog this week, concerning social media, technology or website design (or even about Bristol!), please add a link to it in the comments below.

GWS blog in 2012

2012-01-05T11:08:00.001Z

Happy New Year to all our readers - we hope 2012 will be a great year for everyone. Before we get back to regular blog posts, we thought we would take advantage of the fresh start provided by the new year, and see what you want to hear from us this year. This is partly an opportunity for us to take stock of what we want to post about, but also to invite some interaction from you - offering a chance to have your say on the content of the blog.

So here are a couple of Polls to offer some options around the kind of content you want to see here, of course we also invite you to offer your opinions, feedback and anything else you would like to say in the comments below, as well as on Facebook or Twitter.

Which post subjects have you enjoyed most during 2011?

Resources you might have missed: GWS Blog 2011

2011-12-30T11:30:00.000Z

It's been a busy blogging year; it seemed that summer left and winter arrived in a flash of Christmas lights, but we've managed to fit in a whole lot of blogging about website design and online marketing including a series on social media web design and blogger tips! We thought we'd put together a round-up of what we've been discussing since the end of summer, so you can take another look.

Web Design & Marketing:

In September we wrote about website design, including four key tips which suggest it may be time for a redesign. We also looked at designing green websites, whether aimed at green consumers or including elements that can used to give an eco edge to online marketing.

For e-commerce sites, we suggested some marketing tips such as special offers which are personalised and give incentives to customers, and in part two, pinpointed three tips for e-commerce website design such as focusing on the products, thinking about maximising visual impact and how information is presented.

Social media marketing is a continually growing and changing area, and in September we discussed how it can be used to humanise a brand and evaluate your influence using Klout. We also put together some tips on how to use social media marketing more efficiently and maximise its impact.

Social Media Website Design:

This series began with an overview of the design of social media sites and their usability. We also had a look at Facebook changes that were made this autumn and their potential influence on future interaction for business pages.

We looked at the design of some major social media sites, beginning with Facebook's development, and the importance of their branding, navigation and interaction features. Our poll found that people consider Facebook the best-designed social media site, so we went on to look at the design of Twitter and Google Plus.

Twitter focuses on its continued simple layout, with a functional approach to design, whereas Google Plus uses recognisable layouts but remains within the familiar Google branding. Its visual icons stand out from the simple design, whereas Twitter's simplicity and continuity leaves room for user customisation, whilst maintaining their brand.

We also thought about how design strategies used by these social media sites could be useful for business websites. We looked at the visual experience and continuity within a site, as well as how interaction can be increased.

Blogger:

After thinking about the best design elements of social media sites, one type of site we hadn't yet covered was blog sites. In relation to a business blog, we started looking at Blogger layout and featuring some practical tips, such as making the most of Blogger gadgets and options for presenting information.

Next we went on to customization, from choosing a template and making the blog your own, to ensuring consistent branding from website to blog. Blogger makes ongoing customization simple with easy alterations and updates. From customization to optimization, we shared some tips on why visitors might keep reading your blog, interact with it and return again in future.

With so many design options to utilize in Blogger, we featured blogs that we regularly read to illustrate some key points in the best of blog design. This post features a range of styles, including marketing blog Brain Wads and The Fox is Black- a design blog where the visual layout and imagery are integral to the information presented.

See you next year:

We wish everybody a wonderful festive season and we'll be back in the New Year with brand new blog posts. Please leave us a comment if you have any thoughts on topics you'd like to see us write about, and which blog posts you found most useful.

Weekly Round-Up:New Twitter, Website Redesign & 2011 highlights

2011-12-23T11:00:00.000Z

Christmas is here already! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and we can't believe it got here so fast. This week has been slightly less full of meetings than usual, but the GWS team have been beavering away with a new website for organizational redesign experts Work Structuring, as well as working on promotion for online clothing boutique Drop Dead Gorgeous, who specialise in Prom Dresses and other occasion wear, and a supplier of health education resources.

A very Merry Christmas to our readers, courtesy of what the internet does best: cute animal videos with a festive twist!

Businesses using social media

You might already have it, or merely have heard some mutterings elsewhere, but the new look Twitter is officiall upon us. The redesign has already received praise for its efforts to streamline and simplify the platform. Adweek featured a post on it, reporting some comment from Twitter and their intentions to bridge the gap between awareness and engagement. The Fox is Black had a detailed look at it from a design perspective, calling it sleeker, and we thought this article from Brian Solis on what it means to you and your business is definitely worth a look.

Do you find networking a bit of a challenge? Perhaps this post on the art of networking without networking will help you see it as a less daunting prospect.

If you've been considering Facebook Ads, this article on attracting your ideal audience by Amy Porterfield is definitely worth a look.

This post asks whether blog comments matter? We thought it brought up a very useful reminder that blog commenting is about a reciprocal relationship - your blog isn't going to get many comments, unless you get involved in commenting yourself. We've discussed the benefits of commenting before, and it's clear to see that, although time consuming, it is a great thing to get more involved in.

Art & Design

When is it time to redesign a website? It can be tricky to judge when to take that step, so we thought Smashing Magazine's in-depth look at the indications of when it's time to redesign were potentially very helpful.

Talking of redesign, Mashable came out with a blast from the past - the original designs of websites that are now major internet players.

A fantastic piece of design inspiration from the wonderful Brain Pickings blog: Vintage Science Ads from the 1950s/1960s.

Highlights of 2011

Over the past couple of weeks the internet has been buzzing with 2011 best of lists, so here are some we enjoyed:

The Guardian's cultural highlights of 2011 - The Critics' List & The Readers' List
45 of the most powerful photos of the year
Creative Review's Music videos of the year & Ads of the year
Most watched videos of the year, according to You Tube.

What have your highlights been this year? Feel free to put a link to your blog in the comments below if you have good news to share!

Blogger Tips: Best of Blog Design

2011-12-19T16:44:00.001Z

For the final installment in our blog design & advice series, we want to look at some blogs we think are doing a great job in terms of design and layout. We've chosen a range of blogs to feature, not just business-related ones, to demonstrate the variety of looks that can be achieved, and often using quite simple approaches. Over the past few weeks we've looked at blog layout and the value of experimenting with various elements, as well as simplifying what you include. We've looked at customizing your blog, the importance of making it look unique and matching your branding, andalso thinking about the way colour can guide a visitor's journey across the page. And finally, we've looked at blog optimization, and the way design can play a role in engaging visitors, making a blog more interactive and able to encourage return visits. Taking our thoughts about design from those posts, we have a few examples taken from blogs we read regularly to look through:

The Next Web: befitting a blog which is about disseminating news on technology, business and culture, the design of the blog is fairly simple, and works to highlight the main stories. This is done in a couple of ways. Firstly, the most recent pieces of news are foregrounded at the top, using images which relay something of the posts' content. Secondly, the heading of each post appears in a bright blue, a colour which isn't used anywhere else on the page, making it stand out more. Other elements of navigation are placed in the background, so as not to be distracting. It also places emphasis on the sheer volume of content, with each post receiving only a snippet of information under the headline, in order to maximise the number of posts on a page. Visitors are then directed to ways they can filter the posts, either through popularity/interaction with the box on the right (again, colour draws the eye to this area), or for a more specialised visit through the channels on the side, which feature less prominently.

Amy Porterfield: Amy Porterfield's blog is very straightforward and to the point. There are no bells and whistles, just an emphasis on content and encouraging visitor engagement. The look of the blog is uncluttered - in terms of extras there is a list of popular posts and a link to Facebook, rather than lists of subjects & archives of posts - and consistent. The posts are arranged in the same ways, with the same features (the opportunity to share, number of comments and reactions) presented at the top of each one. The look therefore reflects the specificity of the blog's content - it's all on the same subject, so no need for lengthy subject lists - and encouragement of interaction - emphasis is placed on comments and; reactions by placing them this close to the heading of each post. It's also worth looking at the language and tone of the content, for ideas on ways to encourage visitor interaction.

Brain Wads: Another marketing blog, which makes use of visual repetition to guide the visitor, particularly in the very restrained use of colour - here red is used effectively to point out important areas to the visitor (highlighting the subscription and each individual post). Another thing worth considering is the way calls to action are foregrounded - not only is the subscription link in red, but it's placed right at the top, before you get to any posts, and away from any other messages the blog might be communicating. The navigation, both within the blog and away from it to other social media channels, is placed at the top (where we would commonly expect it to be on other websites) and made as straightforward as possible.

The Fox is Black: From a rather different direction, this design blog also places an emphasis on simplicity, creating well-defined areas for the posts and other elements of interaction and information on the right (which are also stripped down to the bare necessities). Appropriately to its interest in design, visual elements are played up - noticeably, the background is not white here, but white is used to box off the various elements in contrast to the blurred out background - and the posts are dominated by images, meaning that they take up a lot more space than in previous examples. But this approach fbrings visual elements to the fore, and places an emphasis on scrolling through posts, making it a different kind of visitor journey, one where the variety of design and culture featured can be enjoyed in one sitting.

Brain Pickings: Another blog which focuses on culture and design, and so places more emphasis on imagery, Brain Pickings also uses colour to direct the eye and compartmentalise information. Bright yellow is used very effectively to capture the 'about' information, so all archives & blog information are placed in the yellow bar to the left, while links to social media sites are highlighted with the same colour at the top of the blog. It also adds a splash of visual excitement, without being overwhelming. Because the blog covers a variety of areas, the inclusion of a subject cloud works well to entice a deeper visit on a particular subject, as does the prompt to visit further posts at the end of each post.

We hope you've found our look at blog design interesting, and that our tips and advice over the past few weeks has proven useful. We'd love to see more great blog design, so if you want to share your blog with us, please provide a link in the comments below.

The GWS Festive Guide to Bristol

2011-12-16T11:30:00.000Z

This week, instead of our regular weekly round-up, we felt like getting festive. Last year we shared our Bristol Gift Guide, and this year, with Bristol offering so many markets and seasonal shopping specials, we've again highlighted some Christmas shopping opportunities and events in the city.

The German Christmas Market in Broadmead

With cold gloomy weather forecast and everyone counting down the days until Christmas, it's no wonder some people are avoiding the outdoors and instead choose to purchase internet treats. However, we see many Bristol folk battle the elements to enjoy the experiences of shopping on the streets. We've put together some suggestions of great places to find local gifts and catch some festive cheer.

City Centre Shopping:

The German Christmas market has returned to Broadmead this year and is full of holiday treats and gifts. Local companies have set up shop too, so if you want to treat yourself with local produce, there's plenty to choose from including cider, chocolate, cheese, sausages and crepes! There are handmade gifts a plenty too, from hats and cosy clothing to jewellery and the famous Bristol Blue Glass. The Christmas market is open for another week-plenty of time to browse and enjoy the festive atmosphere.

Matti- One of the featured artists appearing in the Pop Up Shop

Cabot Circus is also home to Pop Up Bristol until Christmas, where you'll find three shops turned showcase spaces for arts, crafts and gifts by local artists. It's a great place to find unique handmade gifts whilst supporting Bristol's creative talent.

Broadmeads Christmas Market is also displaying an impressive giant advent calendar where children have a chance to receive a gift from Santa at its daily opening at 4pm. Look out for another giant calendar in Cabot Circus and also the chance to win prizes by entering an competition online.

St Nicholas Market never disappoints when it comes to tantalising food and drink, local products and inspired gifts. For extra festive foods without the supermarket rush, a special Christmas food market will appear on Corn Street this Saturday. There's also the Friday food market on Wine Street as well as one more Farmers Market Wednesday before Christmas next week. Finally, Colston Hall this Saturday hosts the Made in Bristol Christmas Gift Fair which boasts over 100 creative locals with original and handmade designs. Gifts and edible treats galore!

If you're gift shopping this weekend and the bags start to pile up, Radisson Blu has a relaxing bar, ideal for a coffee break. They'll also look after your Christmas shopping in a secure lockup, so you're free to pick up more presents until the end of the day!

Festive Events:

This evening look out for foxes and huntsmen in the old city streets! If you fancy being part of the chase, Hounded is another exciting games event from the organisers of Igfest, with a seasonal twist and mulled wine when it's game over.

Hounded- the foxes with tails follow the trail, via Bristol Business News

Coming up tomorrow, the 17th December is a fantastic effort from the Stokes Croft Markets group. Stokes Croft Winter Fayre will be full of Christmas markets, live music, merry food and drink and arts and craft stalls. You'll find stalls and events outside and in venues along Cheltenham Road and Stokes Croft with much support from local businesses.

There's a host of other local and free events to get involved with this weekend, including some festive songs from St Pauls community choir and a jolly winter party at Eastside Roots.

Gift ideas for the New Year:

Buster Keaton on film- from the Slapstick Festival

If you're out of time for gift buying, why not book a ticket for an event in the New Year when the festive cheer is ebbing away. For a theatrical treat for the family, the seasonal show of Cinderella is on at the Tobacco Factory until the middle of January. And if comedy is more your thing, InstantWit bring another live improvisation comedy show to the Brewery Theatre.

Another great event in January is the Slapstick Festival, celebrating silent comedy. This is bound to bring some laughter and light spiritedness to winter, with films and events on at three venues.

For art and wildlife enthusiasts, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery is home to a free exhibition until March next year, celebrating the natural world with Wildlife Photographer of the Year. And for something more active, you can book to skate at the outdoor rink in Quakers Friars until 9th January.

Evening skating at Quakers Friars, Via Bristol 24-7

We hope you enjoy all that Bristol has to offer for shopping and seasonal merriment. If you know of any other events or great shopping you think we should include, please let us know!

Blogger Tips: Optimization

2011-12-13T16:50:00.001Z

Over the last couple of weeks we've featured posts on blog layout and on blog customization, with various tips and advice on each. This week we have some suggestions for optimizing your blog, with ways to make sure visitors stay on it as long as possible, and are directed to more content that interests them. Some of this is covered by issues of layout and customization, but we thought it would useful to feature our specific optimization tips all together.

1. Getting visitors to stay on the blog.

This comes down mainly to content and nicely designed blog, but there are further tactics to ensure a blog is as 'sticky' as possible. For example:

set links to open in another window, so that in clicking a link visitors aren't taken away from your blog entirely. Here is an article which sets out the instructions for doing this very clearly.

Ensure visitors can see more content that is relevant to them. There are various elements you can add to your blog to try and capture visitors for longer.

One is the 'linkwithin widget' which inserts links to further relevant posts at the end of each blog post you publish. To add this you can go to the linkwithin website which will create the widget for you. You then add it to Blogger by going to the 'layout' area, clicking on 'add a gadget', selecting 'HTML/Javascript' from the list, adding the code that linkwithin has provided you with, and then save it. You will then need to drag the box from the right hand column to sit under the box marked 'blog post' - this will ensure the widget works on every post.
Another way to ensure visitors explore your site is to make the most popular posts more prominent, again through gadgets added in the layout section - we've used the 'popular posts' one, and have included it on the right hand column and in the header of the blog.

You might also think about the ways you can use repetitive text & design to emphasis key areas or calls to action, which might then effectively prompt visitors to do more on the site.

2. Making sure visitors interact.

As well as ensuring a longer visit, you will certainly want to think about the ways you can encourage interaction on the blog. We've featured posts on blog comments before, but there are other things you can do to encourage interaction. Amy Porterfield has an excellent blog post on encouraging comments, through the use of language and phrasing. We would also suggest making use of more efficient ways to provoke engagement.

You could try adding a poll (again via use of the gadgets), either to the blog as a whole, or to an individual post (the links both feature clear instructions - using the old blogger interface, but it all still applies). This way you can capture some opinions, either about the blog or a particular subject you are interested in. You could even use this information to gauge what kind of areas your readers are most interested in.
You can make registering an opinion easier than writing a comment, by adding a list of reactions to the bottom of your posts, which the visitor can then choose as appropriate. In blogger, go to the layout section and select 'edit' on the blog post box. Another window should pop up and you can select including reactions by ticking the box next to this option and then editing the particular reaction options as desired.
As more people post comments on your blog, the interaction on these can provide a compelling reason to return, both for commenters and visitors who enjoy reading the comments posted by others.

3. Making sure visitors return.

A final part of the process is to try and make it easier for visitors to come back to you. Again, this is predominantly up to having good content, but if you make it easy for visitors to subscribe to your blog by an RSS feed or email, they will be reminded of new blog posts via their bookmark toolbar, or by an email to their inbox. Once again, you need to visit the add gadget options - titled 'Follow by email' and 'Feed' - these can then be placed wherever you like in the layout - experiment with how prominent you want them to be, and make sure they are titled effectively. 'Follow by email' could become 'get updates in your inbox' and so on. You also need to make sure that the feed is accessible, by going into the 'settings' menu of blogger, selecting 'other' and changing the settings in the 'site feed' to 'full'.

What do you think?

In our next post we will be featuring some business blogs we feel are well designed - yours could be one of them, if you would like to be considered, please place a link to it in the comments below.

Weekly Round-Up: Blogging, Social Media Pro Tips and Christmas Design

2011-12-09T12:00:00.000Z

Caspar David Friedrich's Winter Landscape via The Guardian

We're pleased to announce the release of the first version of our Bristol Guide for Android. It includes support for many Android tablets. It's finally feeling more like winter, and help it along we've been enjoying a series of wintry artworks on The Guardian's website. The GWS Media office has been a hive of activity as usual, with client meetings aplenty, so we're definitely looking forward to our Christmas dinner at Filini next week! we've been working on promotion for an event lighting company, and our client, office furniture and copier suppliers KN Office's expansion into Wales.

Here's what we've enjoyed reading this week:

Businesses using social media

How do you make your blog / facebook / twitter posts stand out? There are various ways to make your content stand out, including taking a controversial stance on a topic in your area - the subject of an interesting post on Bloggertone this week. Though it might not be appropriate for everyone, acting as Devil's advocate is definitely one way to draw opinion and interaction.

Other ways to attract attention include the ability to be genuinely interesting, but how do you do that? We enjoyed this article on how to be interesting (FYI it features an excellent use of diagrams).

Social Media Examiner featured some really useful posts this, as usual. We thought their 5 reasons your business should be blogging and 8 Small Business Social Media Tips from the Pros were particularly vauable reading.

Art & Design

Zaha Hadid's Guangzhou Opera House

Smashing Magazine featured a really interesting, and extremely in-depth, look at the relationship between content and design strategies in website design - useful for everyone involved in the design of a website.

Everyone will be coming out with their best of 2011 lists no doubt, but we particularly enjoyed this look at the best architecture of the year.

We often feature posts on great book design, but mostly it's been from recent times. This post on the first covers of classic novels not only features some interesting design, but demonstrates the way that book design has evolved.

Christmas

Since the festive season is now in full swing, we thought it would be fun to include some Christmassy bits and bobs we've come across this week: from the timeline of Christmas trees to the best Christmas decorations for geeks, as well as this fantastic illustrated alphabet (which would definitely make a spectacular Christmas present!).

Now it's your turn

As well as inviting you to comment on articles featured in the round-up, we're going to be opening the floor to you from now on: if you've featured any useful tips or advice or interesting posts on your blog this week on social media, technology or website design (or about Bristol!), please add a link to it in the comments below.

Blogger Tips: Customization

2011-12-06T09:29:00.001Z

Last week we looked at the layout of Blogger, offering some tips on things you can add to your blog and how to arrange them. This week we will offer some advice on customizing your blog - one of the key strengths of the blogger format (though this also applies to for others like Wordpress) is the extent to which you can make a blog look individual, and carry on modifying the look and feel as you go.

Everything you need is in the template section of the Blogger menu. Inititally you pick a template - this gives you a basis from which to make the blog your own. There are several to choose from, including classic styles and more modern designs. You can also choose how your blog will be seen by visitors - there are a range of 'dynamic views' which can dramatically alter the navigation and overall look. When approaching which template to use, it's important to think about what will be most appropriate to your business, what matches the type of services you provide and your target clients.

1. Making it your own.

Once you've chosen how you want your blog to look with the template, you can make a range of further adjustments to customize the look and layout. The degree to which you can change it will probably depend on how involved you want to get in the design, but we would recommend that you make at least some adjustments depending on your business area and the subject of the blog. As we stressed last week, the good thing about Blogger is that it is extremely easy to change, so this can be an ongoing process. Once you've chosen your template, you can make further changes by clicking on 'customise'. This takes you to another screen through which you can alter the background (whether you want this to be a colour or an image), the widths of the various elements on your blog (it's worth bearing in mind that computer screens are generally bigger now so you might want to make fuller use of the screen), further changes to the layout and an advanced option which allows you to change fonts and colours used on all the different elements. Make sure you don't get carried away - the blog must remain legible and easy to read; it's surprising how many people make mistakes in trying to make a blog look sophisticated (e.g. white text on a black background might look smart, but it can be more tiring on the eye).

2. Branding.

The first thing to bear in mind when making any changes to your blog design is your current branding. We would definitely recommend altering your blog with this in mind so that if someone moves from your website to your blog there is a consistency in the look, signalling to the visitor that they are connected. Using the main colours of your logo and website (you can either get your designer to provide you with the specific codes for the colours, or match them by eye) is important, and include your logo and check that the fonts match. This will help to make the blog also more integrated into your online presence. As well as consistency, you might also want to think about how branding can operate as a pervasive presence - don't miss any opportunity to remind visitors of who you are and to bring them back to the look of any other materials you have (from website to print)!

3. Colour.

As well as its importance to branding, choices about colour can be further integrated into the user experience. In our look at the design of social media sites, we noted how colour can be used to draw the eye to important elements, or to guide visitors through a site. When you come to customise your site, while bearing in mind the colours present in your branding, also think about which are more dominant, and therefore which ones might be best to use for anything that requires action (the colour designated to links, for example), or needs to be highlighted. You can change the background of a specific area - links to commenting etc. - to help it stand out.

What do you think?

In our next post we will be looking at tips to optimise your blog - let us know if there is anything you want us to cover, or that you think we should have be mentioned! In the meantime, feel free to share a link to your blog in the comments below and we might feature it in a round-up of blogs we like the design of.

Weekly Round-Up: Blog interaction, Facebook & the Future of Privacy

2011-12-02T11:04:00.000Z

Tis the season to ... Shop till you drop via Laughing Squid

Now it's officially the start of the Christmas season (as proved by David Hasselhoff opening a giant Advent Calendar in Cabot Circus yesterday!), we're excited to explore the festivities that Bristol has to offer, from special Christmas Markets to all the entertainments on offer over the coming month. As we've mentioned we will be putting together a Christmas Gift Guide as we did last year, so get in touch if you have any special recommendations. We mentioned a couple of seasonal offers our Clients have got going last week, and this week we are excited to have gone live with the new site for Occupational Training Solutions where you can book courses online.

Here's what's been catching our eyes this week:

Businesses using social media

Want to encourage interaction from readers of your business blog? Amy Porterfield has some really useful advice on questions to encourage conversation.

Have you noticed Twitter's new feature, the activity tab? What do you think of it? The Next Web featured an interesting piece last week on why the activity tab is not personal enough.

A couple of Facebook posts we liked this week: TechMash featured a potentially revealing infographic on the average Facebook user - could this information help you shape your content? Does it match with the average fan of your Facebook page? We featured part 1 of Adam Vincenzini's 40 useful things to share on Facebook, and here is part 2, which is equally filled with great advice and ideas.

Design & Technology

We were interested by this video of Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg talking about the future of privacy and the increasing convergence of our real and virtual lives.

The footer of a website or blog might be way down your list of importance when it comes to website design, but this article from The Design Work demonstrates why that shouldn't be the case, highlighting some great examples of footer design to inspire and indicate the footer's importance to navigation and the overall look of a site.

A few weeks ago we featured a post from Creative Review on the new Olympic posters created by artists like Tracey Emin and Gary Hume, so we thrilled to see the results of responses of students from Kingston University to these more established artists, and the range of their takes on the Olympic poster.

Now the Christmas season is fully upon us, we know one thing for the GWS Media Christmas list - this wonderful new book on Pantone - A colour history of the 20th Century

Bristol

Today sees a day long forum on whether Bristol should have an elected mayor run by the Festival of Ideas - we're looking forward to hearing the outcomes of the event.

Bristol blogs are outdoing themselves with guides to what's going on in Bristol over the festive period. Particularly useful we thought is Bristol Culture's guide to what's on the stage in December, and What's Hot in Bristol's list of Christmas Markets (including opening times).

Now it's your turn

As well as inviting you to comment on articles featured in the round-up, we're going to be opening the floor to you from now on: if you've featured any useful tips or advice, or interesting posts on your blog this week on social media, technology or website design (or about Bristol!), please add a link to it in the comments below.

Blogger Tips: Layout

2011-11-28T12:32:00.001Z

Layout in Blogger

After our series on the design of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter & Google Plus we got to thinking that the insights into encouraging engagement through design elements was worth exploring further, and in particular in relation to another form of social media: blogging. We've featured posts on blogging for business before, on the subject of Search Engine Optimization and the value of commenting on blogs, so this time we thought we would write a series of posts that were targeted towards thinking about design in relation to a business blog, and featuring some practical tips. As our blog is on Google's blogger platform, the specifics of practical tips will be for that, but the thinking behind our suggestions will be applicable to other platforms.

First up, we want to focus on the layout of the blog and the posts within it.

Add to your blog

Pages in Blogger

Adding different elements to your blog page is done through the layout section of your blogger menu - here you can add in different 'gadgets' which will add in various elements that you can customise (from Social Media badges to an archive of blog posts). Things to prioritise are:

1. Information on your business, whether in summary form or on a separate page (it's best to have both - if you want to add another page dedicated to your company's services, you can do this by going to the pages section of your blogger menu).

2. Links to your business website and any social media profiles associated with the business - these can be can added with Blogger's gadgets, or by getting code from the relevant site (for example if you want to add a Facebook button, you need to go to Facebook's buttons section and copy the code to paste into the HTML/Javascript gadget or a third party facebook gadget).

3. Subscription links. In order to create a regular audience you want to make it easy for readers to subscribe to your blog either by email (add a gadget called 'Follow by email') or RSS feed (go to 'Settings' in the Blogger menu, then to 'Other', and under the heading 'Site Feed', select 'full' from the drop down box next to 'Allow Blog Feed'.

Our subject cloud

4. A subject/tag cloud. In order for it to be immediately obvious what kind of content will be featured on your blog, we think it's great to include a list of the tags you use for your posts (it also means you need to be very organised about how you tag your posts, keeping these relevant and consistent). This can be done in a number of ways, but our preferred option is a cloud of the tags featured on the right side of the blog - this gives an instant clue to the content of the blog and allows readers instant access to a particular topic. Again this can be added through the 'add gadget' feature 'Labels' - through this you can adjust exactly what and how you want this to appear.

Experiment

The great thing about Blogger is that it is easy to customise, easy to add to and edit, so the best thing to do is often to experiment and see what works best for you. Test different layouts (and better still ask your readers for feedback) with the knowledge you can easily revert or change it again in the future. See what is most appropriate for your blog. We make tweaks to our blog all the time, and Blogger brings out new features regularly, such as the gadget to add your most popular posts, which we are currently trying out. Best of all, if you've added something but it doesn't seem to be working as well as it might, you can keep it in but change its position - the layout view allows you to move the blocks of features around.

Simplify

As we mentioned in our social media website design series, simplicity can ease engagement, and a decluttered look can help visitors navigate your site. The same is true for a blog - it can be easy to add lots of bells and whistles, but if you make it too cluttered, it will be harder to find the key things you want users to engage with. We will be looking at business blogs we like the design of in an upcoming post, but it's defintiely a good idea to see what's out there in your own field and see what you like, what you think works. Can you use any of the Blogger gadgets to ease usability? We have one recommendation for an addition which should optimize navigation and therefore visitor engagement: a gadget called 'Linkwithin' which adds 3 related posts to the bottom of every post you publish. If you're using your tags effectively this will give the visitor 3 more relevant posts to complement the one they've just read. It works well to generate click throughs on our blog site, and is the 9th best referring site for traffic (accounting for a similar volume of traffic to Facebook and Twitter).

What do you think?

In our next post we will be looking at design and customisation, and offering some tips of our own - let us know if there is anything you want us to cover. In the meantime, feel free to share a link to your blog in the comments below and we might feature it on the blog.

Weekly Round-Up: Google Plus, Street Art & Web Design

2011-11-25T11:03:00.000Z

Amazing Street Art by 3D Joe & Max (via Laughing Squid)

We're not sure where the last week has gone, but suddenly it's a month till Christmas and Bristol is buzzing with festive events & cheer. We're trying not to get too carried away with the Christmas feel at least until December, but lots of clients are in full swing with their seasonal offers; a prime example being Gribble's Online Butchers whose Christmas Produce page is making us very excited for Christmas dinner! We've also started with SEO promotion for a new client offering health educational resources including materials to quit smoking.

Here's what's caught our eyes this week:

Businesses using social media
Want to get more leads on Twitter? Try Amy Porterfield's simple trick to enhance your specific services.

If you've been on the fence as to whether you should add your business to Google Plus, here's a potentially useful article on why social media marketers shouldn't be ignoring this new social network.

If you're already on Google Plus and are wondering how to make the most of it, we found these useful articles: Chris Brogan on what kind of sharing environment Google Plus is and Social Media Examiner on Google Hangouts: how to do them and why you should.

Art & Design
Having been thinking a lot about website design encouraging interaction in our series on social media website design, we were particularly interested in this fascinating and detailed article which looks at what web design can learn about fluidity of content and design by looking at classic picture book Where the Wild Things Are.

We often mention street art on the blog, in consideration of its development as an art form & Bristol's place in its history, this week we were amazed by the world's largest street painting in London (sponsored by Reebok) and news that archaeologists are seeking to preserve graffiti drawn by Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols - should Banksy's work receive the same treatment (especially in light of the recent painting over of his famous gorilla painting).

The latest App design to catch our eye is from Dominos Pizza, through which you can design your own pizza and order it, bringing together gaming and ecommerce through a canny use of the medium's interactivity.

Bristol

Before our Bristol news starts getting too Christmassy (it is still November after all!), we're excited that the annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition has begun (here is a nice sneak preview of some of the images from Bristol Culture Blog).

We're also thrilled to see how much people in Bristol are thinking outside the box when it comes to Christmas retail this year - we mentioned the presence of a pop-up shop highlighting local illustrators in Cabot Circus over the festive period before on the blog, and here is a video of them putting it together. Do pass on any Christmas tips for us to add to our special Bristol Christmas Gift/Attractions Guide - we want to include as many special local things as possible!

Now it's your turn:
As well as inviting you to comment on our post, we're going to be opening the floor to you from now on: If you've featured any useful tips or advice, or interesting posts on your blog this week on social media or website design (or anything related), please add a link to it in the comments below.

Social Media Website Design - What Businesses Can Learn

2011-11-24T09:52:00.001Z

Over the past several weeks we've been looking at the design of social media sites, focusing on Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus and thinking about how their design elements encourage engagement and interaction. To conclude the series we're going to think more specifically about how design strategies used by these sites could be used by business websites. Next week we will be looking at the design of Google's blogger platform, including some practical advice on customisation and layout, so these points will filter into that too.

Visual Experience
Social media sites take advantage of the web as a visual medium, not only in the kind of content shared (photos and videos are much more likely to be shared) but in the look of the sites themselves, drawing users into interaction with the design.

Facebook: Past (left) & Future (right)

1. Continuity of design is very important to usability & interaction.

Facebook showed us that maintaining a visual consistency, so that even if the layout has changed, your site looks like your site, is key. Consistency of branding (through colour - Facebook - or strong icons - Twitter) and the general look is important to the ease of user experience and retaining your audience.

2. Continuity through design and layout keeps the site (and its users) focused on its purpose.

Twitter's consistency of design communicates its self-confidence and security in what it's service is - excessive branding/promotion can be off-putting and distracting to visitors.

3. Visual excitement encourages interaction.

Google Plus uses elements like animation and colour to make the site visually exciting, encouraging the user to play with and take advantage of its range of features.

Simplicity

One common element we noticed in relation to these sites is the importance of keeping design simple, in both layout and the look of the site.

1. Clear navigation is the key to any effective website.

Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus use very similar layouts to those used by the majority of websites, with the familiarity of both horizontal and vertical navigation bars. For all three the navigation is similarly blocky, with a top strip which takes you to your profile & your news feed, as well as the search feature. Navigation splits up the different streams of information so that it is easy to access and move between types of news (whether it is general or specific to you).

2. Clean design places the functionality of your site in the foreground.

Twitter's design is kept minimal and there are no elements of the layout that aren't functional - the site itself is not distracting from its primary goal. The whiteness of the Google Plus page keeps the stream/profile pages feeling uncluttered, focusing attention on the points of interaction. By avoiding users having to go through more steps than is needed it makes it easier for them to navigate, engage and participate.

Increasing Interaction

Putting the visual experience to the fore and maintaining simplicity both help to increase interaction, but there are other things we noted that are designed with this aim in mind.

1. Interaction can be made incredibly easy.

The clean design and straightforward navigation of all 3 sites makes interaction easy; reducing the steps that need to be taken between the action you want and doing it, is a must. Twitter is probably the most direct in this respect, as the design is based around the major function of sharing. Websites need to be clear about what they are asking visitors to do and make it easy for them to do it.

2. Be direct.

Clarity of purpose can be supported by repetition. Facebook uses active language to encourage participation. All 3 sites repeat their calls to action constantly (actions - reply, retweet, like,share etc. - are repeated on every post).

3. Draw the Eye.

Coming back to the visual nature of web design, calls to action shouldn't all be language-based. Google Plus users colour to draw the eye to action points and through the navigation.

What do you think?

We've looked at some of the main social networking sites, let us know if there are others you would like us to look at.