blog archive.

In order to improve the service we provide to all our clients (and to get an idea of what they all really thought of us!), we sent out an anonymous online survey back in February and can now report back on the results..

Overwhelming Positive Feedback

Over 96% of respondents rated our service good or excellent, in terms of understanding their business, the overall working relationship and meeting deadlines. Responding promptly to questions and communicating clearly and effectively were also highlighted as excellent.

"FNM always seem to be ahead of the game in the sense that they always action our requests promptly but not without question. For example, they won't just go ahead and action a request if they think it could be done a better way or even if they believe it doesn't need to be done at all - even if this might mean lost revenue for them in the short term. We have trust that they will always represent our interests and that sort of trust in a business to business relationship can be all too rare!"

Surprising responses

Almost a quarter of our clients prefer face-to-face meetings rather than email or phone calls as the primary means of communication. We dedicate a large amount of our time to these meetings, so it’s good to know that it’s just as useful for our clients as it is for us!

Room for improvement

While communication, technical support and development skills were noted as particular strengths, a number of respondents revealed that they would be very receptive to the provision of new ideas.

As an immediate response to this, we have devised a new Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) package that will be of benefit to all our current clients in terms of getting increased site traffic and higher natural search engine rankings. We shall also be reviewing all our clients’ websites and making suggestions for improvements over the next few months.

Take a look at the article below to learn more about SEO. If you would like to take advantage of our new SEO package then please get in touch here.

Many thanks to everyone who took part in the survey.

We at Focus are looking to recruit a junior to middleweight web designer / builder to join our young and enthusiastic team based in Southville, Bristol.

Day-to-day you'll be:

 - producing fantastic creative visual ideas based on our customer brands and requirements. This might be a single banner ad or helping design an entire eCommerce store.
 - using standards compliant XHTML and CSS to build functional web templates from creative concepts.

A background in producing cross browser, accessible code would be key to the role.

And you may also be doing other stuff including:

 - working closely with the technical team on a variety of briefs and at various stages throughout a project.
 - attending design presentation meetings with our business development team and communicating directly with our customers on design related issues.
 - liaising with the account management team to ensure customer requests, which might be web site amends or technical support - are managed, completed and communicated throughout the team and back to the customer.

So we're looking for applicants with:

 - a portfolio of previous designs and examples of any site 'builds'.
 - strong knowledge of up to date XHTML and CSS, together with W3C-WAI compliance.
 - commercial experience in the appropriate software including Fireworks or Photoshop, and Flash would be an advantage.

We're offering a salary of somewhere between 16k and 20k, in a relaxed working environment and a chance to forge a career in the direction that you choose, with future opportunities in either the design or technical side of web development projects. Oh, and all the Diet Coke you can drink.

If you're interested then please initially send a CV and letter all about yourself to:
simon@focusnewmedia.com

Sorry - no agencies.

Greyhound Graphics - stationery suppliers and printing experts based in Clifton – have commissioned a new online shop due to go live mid-May.

With a comprehensive selection of stationery and designs already available via their website, the next step was to let customers order their stationery and print needs online. New customers will find it easy to find what they need via the intuitive navigation, while repeat customers will have their order history stored in their own personal accounts.

Upon registering, users will be able to save their order history, create new templates and purchase products in a streamlined 4-step process. Items can be placed in your shopping basket, stored for later in your account or bought immediately via a secure payment system.

Combining their launch with the culmination of a three month SEO campaign, Greyhound Graphics have taken a decisive step into the world of online commerce.

Keeping abreast of SEO news is just one of the many things we try to keep tabs on here at Focus Towers.  Mumblings and grumblings about Google's latest update - termed the "Dewey Update" after a blog post from Matt Cutts - have been growing over the past few weeks.

Has this affected your site rankings?

I'd be really interested to get any feedback from anyone affected by this latest change.

Links
Surviving the Dewey Update 
Dewey Discussion
Spanish SEO commentary
Useful tool comparing searches across disparate data centres

A hilarious plan to bring a herd of painted swine into Bath's city centre in the name of art has caused consternation among council officials.  Apparently it is felt by some that the pigs would be "inappropriate" and "damaging to the city's character".

The brightly coloured models have been designed to interest summer tourists, engage people with the history of Bath, and raise large sums of money for charity.  Over £20,000 has already been raised in sponsorship fees, which will have to be returned if the conservative elements of the council have their way.

I was lucky enough to see one of the pigs close-up at a BBWA networking event last week.  Beautifully decorated by one of the members, it will certainly stand out against the backdrop of Bath stone-clad town houses.  Joined by a herd of similarly decorated brethren, the sight may turn out to be in turns comical, bizarre and possibly pointless.  The idea gets my thumbs up though!

Source: Bath Chronicle

Picture Source: EcoSherpa

Read more about King Bladud

A new report published this week by Forrester estimates that over $5 billion will be spent on social networks by 2013 in North America and Europe alone.

Coming above six other Web 2.0 categories - mashups, widgets, wikis, blogs, podcasting and RSS - social networks have been clearly identified as this years' must-have inclusion in any large companies' online budget.

Although this research hardly comes as a surprise, it will be interesting to see what will supersede the current trend.  Attendees of this week's "Geek Conference" in San Francisco will most likely get a taste for what's ahead on the new technology event horizon.

Source:  BBC Technology

Following on from Lisa's last post, I came across an article that really brought home the scale of online sexual abuse.

According to Tom Lloyd at Youth Work News, "the number of people arrested for child sex offences has tripled in the last year.

Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to attend a full days' training on e-safety and child protection in relation to online chat facilities and forums. The session was hosted by Tony Domaille of David Niven Associates and the session was not only interesting and useful but also quite an eye-opener.

Tony worked as a police officer for over 30 years as a Detective Sergeant for the Child Protection Department and the last four years working on the Dangerous Offenders Unit concentrating on sexual exploitation of children through the Internet, so he's more than used to dealing with the issue of paedophilia. I was, on the other hand, very naive and completely unaware of the lengths these people will go to in order to carry out their fantasies and that they are generally very respected and trusted members of our community.

We're working with 3 local authorities on web sites which publicise positive activities for young people and include interactive chat facilities. Bath and North East Somerset council (B&NES) have enlisted the help of Tony to ensure that the moderators of the site are fully trained to recognise any misuse of the site. This includes not only being aware of sexual predators and how to deal with them, but also online bullying, cries for help in relation to issues such as suicide or anorexia, and discrimination against others in terms of things like racism or sexuality.

The actual website has also been enhanced by a number of e-safety features to ensure it's as easy as possible for users to report anything that they're concerned about as well as to deter potential predators. Some of the enhancements are:

• Link to Think U Know, which informs on how to have fun, stay in control and how to report online abuse. 
• Link to the Virtual Global Task Force, which includes information on how to report abuse and provides a template for reporting. The reports reach appropriate authorities via the Child Exploitation On-line Protection Centre (CEOP) who disseminate reports/referrals. 
• Link to directly contact site moderators. 
• Inclusion of House rules for use of the site and forum. 
• Internet Protocol (I.P) address to be captured at the point of registration. 
• The email address provided on registration will be verified before the user is able to use the site.  

The new website - B-Active - is due to go live at the end of April.

...and it looks like we bought ours just in time!

Since launching their EeePc complete with a Micrososft Windows platform back in March, Asus' profits have soared as demand has rocketed and the first affordable notebook is set to double in price.  

Having just bought ours for a snip at £239 (4GB version) from Amazon last week, we were rather smug to notice the price hike to £380 through the same outlet yesterday.  That includes a delay period of 2 -3 weeks, presumably while they frantically try and make some more to meet the demand.

Compared to £1100+ RRP of a Macbook Air or its cheaper sibling, the Pro, that'll set you back around £700, it's no suprise that Asus' pared down PC appeals to the increasingly mobile, as-yet-to-be high-earning generation.  It's also smaller (see pic) and more robust, winning points all-round.

Actually, it wasn't even a twenty-something friend who first alerted me to the Asus phnomenon, but Stephen Fry.  

 

The media have all jumped on the same bandwagon this week, with reports condemning social networking sites - such as Bebo and Facebook - as unsafe websites for children to surf. 

Publishing of the Byron report at the end of March seems to have precipitated this avalanche of comment.  Its author, Dr. Tanya Byron, clearly points out the vital role that parental control needs to play in keeping children safe.  The notion of "nurturing a shared culture of responsibility" is also explored, along with empowering children themselves to make safe decisions online.

The impact of this report will take some time to sink in, affecting as it does the gaming industry, social networking sites, schools, central government and the consciences of all concerned parents.

The consequences for our own business relate specifically to this notion of shared responsibility.  All websites we've designed for young people have firm 'house rules' to protect users from harrassment; moderators of our forums are trained to recognize online abuse by experienced professionals; we also provide clear links to information and policing sites that both discourage potential predators and give guidance to young people wishing to stay safe online.  Yet there will always be new ways in which safe use of the internet can be promoted, something that the Bryon Report has helped to highlight in the minds of the general public.

Related Sites:

Virtual Global Taskforce

Think You Know?