blog.

We’ve been working with Bristol Balloons for five years now, and designed and built their three websites Bristol Balloons, Bath Balloons and Ballooning Network. You could say it’s a close relationship - fortunate, as our offices are up the stairs from theirs!

We revamped the design of all three sites last year, updating the look and feel of each, assigning each site its own identity within an overarching brand umbrella. We helped the team there to develop their online booking system, enabling people to check availability and book flights online as well as being able to being able to book flights as gifts for others.

We’ve yet to check out the flights themselves (I don’t have a head for heights!) but from what we’ve heard, the weekday dawn ones are pretty impressive!

I went along to the eCommerce Expo at London's Earls Court, to have a little sneaky peak at what's going on in the industry. I found the seminars interesting but always find it a little uncomfortable walking around and being 'pitched' at from every angle!

I went to the Google University Analytics Master Class where they took it back to basics and highlighted the main principles of getting the most out of your analytics including:

• Set clear goals - understand what your website is for
• Use the reports from your Google Analytics to drive the website forward - don't just use them to show your boss a nice report.
• Ensure that many people in the organisation are aware of the analytics, what they show and what the objectives for the site are.

But over all make sure that you have a great web development team who can work with you, using the results from the analytics to put in changes for driving the site and retaining customers!

If you're interested you can view the seminars from the expo online at Seminar Stream

The Mobile Internet World Europe Summit convened a few days ago to discuss ways to "capitalize on the fastest growing marketplace in the converging media, entertainment and telecommunications industries."

The blogosphere seems to be rather tight-lipped on the findings or perceptions of this conference, leading me to believe that either the conference bombed or the participants are keeping very quiet about their conclusions.

With such high sums at stake wouldn't you?!

I - like 99.9999% of the worlds population - hate spam.  This blog seems to receive more than its fair share of the stuff, despite the CAPTCHA filter we included as standard - human spammers making easy work of the bot-proof challenges.

I'm therefore rather pleased to hear two of the 90's most active spammers have been fined $234M for their relentless spamming assault on MySpace.

Having contravened the 2003 federal law known as CAN-SPAM, Sanford Wallace and Walter Rines were awarded this judgement after they failed to turn up to their court hearing last week. 

Source: Information Week

Christmas was a time of joy for online retailers the BBC have revealed.  The message seems clear - consumers are switching from spending on the high street to buying online.

Certain industries lead the virtual way - electronics and clothing companies currently ruling the roost - yet all sectors seem to be waking up to the concept of online shopping.

From stationers to nonprofits, from corporate hospitality to cheese, organisations are starting to fight for their share of the online market.

None of this is really news, it merely comes as confirmation to many. Internet shopping is infinitely more convenient than trudging down slippery winter high streets. Why spend hours fighting against the crowd when you can click a few buttons and getting a package through the post a few days later?!