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Mobile marketing isn’t a QR code

TechDept — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 09:00:41 +0000

While working with Tim Hayden, I’ve come to learn just how powerful mobile marketing can be. He and I have spoken a bunch over the last many years, and more formally (in a business capacity) in recent years, and there’s so much more that could be done for your business when it comes to how people interact with you via their mobile devices. The nuances and opportunities are vast, and the ability to drive off the path and crash your would-be customer into the bushes of a loss are almost equally big.

First, if you have a QR code pointing to a non-mobile-friendly URL, what’s your hope? If you deliver someone to a page that requires they squint, scroll, and otherwise manipulate content in an uncomfortable way, that’s the first experience that person will have with your company. Second, if you are simply using QR codes to redirect people to a URL, you’re missing a lot of opportunities for prospecting, for data delivery, for better service of the customer.

By Chris Brogan for ChrisBrogan.com, 09 Nov 2011.

Robots.txt and 404 pages: sometimes funny, always important

TechDept — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 09:00:02 +0000

I’ve seen a spate of “Easter Egg” links doing the rounds on Twitter recently, some of which have been pretty inspired. They’re generally either the 404 page or the robots.txt page.

The 404 page is the page you are shown if the page you are looking for, via your browser, doesn’t exist.

Generally, if a user follows a link to a non-existent page, the site should indicate clearly to the visitor that they have followed a broken link and indicate to the search engines that the page doesn’t exist (via 404). So far, so straightforward.

By Will Wynne for Econsultancy, 07 Oct 2011.

The worst web page in the world

TechDept — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 09:00:59 +0000

You would think it would be easy to say which is the worst web page in the world. Well, bad web design is a lot like pornography — just when you think you’ve seen the worst page, along comes something worse.

The difference between the sites listed here and those found in Over-The-Top Websites is that the pages listed here belong to commercial businesses or educational institutions. Over the Top sites generally deal with philosophy, religion, politics, end times, etc., that are out of the mainstream.

By Vincent Flaunders for Web Pages That Suck.

Websites told to ensure cookies comply with UK law

TechDept — Mon, 16 May 2011 09:00:45 +0000

Websites are being asked to review how they track users ahead of imminent changes to privacy laws.

On 26 May European privacy laws come in to force in the UK which give people more control over what data websites gather about them.

This means changes to what websites can do with cookies – small text files used to log data about repeat visitors.

For BBC News: Technology, 10 May 2011.

The top websites blocked by businesses in 2010 ranked by OpenDNS

TechDept — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 09:59:40 +0000

Can you guess which is the most blocked website?

View the top ten

By Dean Praetorius for The Huffington Post Technology, January 26, 2011

New net rules set to make cookies crumble

TechDept — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:49:56 +0000

The way websites track visitors and tailor ads to their behaviour is about to undergo a big shake-up. From 25 May, European laws dictate that “explicit consent” must be gathered from web users who are being tracked via text files called “cookies”. These files are widely used to help users navigate faster around sites they visit regularly. Businesses are being urged to sort out how they get consent so they can keep on using cookies.

Track changes
The changes are demanded by the European e-Privacy directive which comes into force in the UK in late May. The section of the directive dealing with cookies was drawn up in an attempt to protect privacy and, in particular, limit how much use could be made of behavioural advertising. This form of marketing involves people being tracked across websites, with their behaviour used to create a profile that dictates the type of adverts they see.

From BBC News Technology, 8th March 2011

35 entertaining 404 error pages

TechDept — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 09:00:54 +0000

“404 Not Found.” These three little words can make any Internet explorer an unhappy camper. After all, who hopes to click on a broken link or stumble upon a moved or deleted page while cruising around the web?

Luckily, some web designers have chosen to end the misery of encountering a 404 error page. Instead of letting their site readers bump heads with a nasty dead-end error message, they’ve managed to squeeze a little entertainment out of it.

By Erica Swallow for Mashable, 04 Sept 2010.

AOL launches paid-for service tracking children’s online activity

TechDept — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 09:00:27 +0000

AOL UK has started to sell a social media monitoring service that provides parents with an overview of their children’s online activity.

SafeSocial alerts parents to any irregular or concerning behaviour, which arises from spending time on social networks. It requires consent from the child and aims to encourage positive dialogue between them and their parents.

The parent does not have to become friends with, or follow, the child in order to monitor their online activity, using the tool. It produces a report card of overall activity and identifies unusual behaviour.

By Sarah Shearman for Brand Republic, 17 Nov 2010.

The death of the brand website?

TechDept — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 09:00:53 +0000

Today’s consumers are most likely to interact with brands via social networks. So, what does this mean for brand websites? asks Stuart Derrick.

Bacardi’s decision to move away from campaign websites to focus its digital strategy on social networks (Marketing, 26 January) may seem bold. However, it poses a question to all marketers: do expensive brand websites have a role in the age of social media?

Faced with declining numbers of visitors to its brand sites – according to comScore, Bacardi’s unique visitor numbers fell 77% between 2009 and 2010 – it is understood that the company will be shifting up to 90% of its digital spend to its presence on Facebook in the next one to two years.

By Stuart Derrick for Marketing Magazine, 02 Feb 2011.

Prototype of an open web app ecosystem

TechDept — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 09:00:52 +0000

The open Web is a great platform for rich applications. It would be even better if it had additional capabilities to ease discovery, acquisition, installation and use of apps, while also enabling monetization for developers. We designed and built a prototype of a system for open Web apps: Apps built using HTML/CSS/JavaScript that work both on computers and mobile phones, have many of the characteristics that users find compelling about native apps and provide developers with open and flexible distribution options.

By J Sullivan for Mozilla Blog, 10 Nov 2010.