The famous Ice Cream makers from Vermont have taken a bold move by declaring that they shall no longer be using email marketing as a means of letting you know about their latest zany flavors. No, instead they will be utilizing those marketing dollars to concentrate on an already successful social media foray. In fact the last email invited subscribers to connect with the brand through either the Facebook or Twitter social networks. This isn’t exactly as bold as one might think, given that Ben & Jerry’s Facebook page is currently over 1.3 million “fans” strong.

Alright, go ahead and ask. What does their move to social media and away from email marketing mean for your business? A little more than nothing, but less than everything. Far too many marketers could see this move as a signal that their business should follow suite and make the jump to social media exclusivity without first questioning if what is good for Ben & Jerry’s is good for their business.

There are of course, naysayers who pretend not to notice that the times, they are a-changing, and are not open to social media at all. This is why careful inspection of marketing channels and preferred client touch points is necessary before abandoning programs that still provide a good return on investment.

Here are some observations about this move to social media exclusivity

Upside

• less expensive, but only if the ROI is equal
• more real time as people expect a higher volume of activity via social channels
• increased interaction because “no reply” doesn’t fly here
• more likely to be viral and have one too many effects

Downside

• short visibility window per post
• more content may need to be penned more frequently
• monitoring methods generally less mature than email marketing
• potential backlash from those who do not like retweets/likes from brands
• alienates social media holdouts who still like ice cream

Want to find out more about how social media, social networking, and social marketing can fit with your marketing efforts? Join us for one of our upcoming social media seminars, give us a call, drop us an email or maybe even connect with us in the social sphere.

The piquant Steve Jobs has been known to be outspoken in the technology bubble. And it isn’t much of a farfetched idea to notice that Adobe’s Flash has come under some scrutiny by more critical crowds; setting up for a debate on HTML 5 versus Flash use on mobile phones. Some iPhone users argue about Apple not including Flash with the iPhone, others are more interested in Apple’s technology. Perhaps by not including Adobe’s Flash as the standard on their mobile devices, it is Apple’s way of saying that if you want Flash, you have to go out and get it, or find something different; they don’t necessarily want to deal with a third-party developer, because of the inherent problems with that.

The near and far future of Web design deals with multimedia, especially Flash and HTML 5.

In his long-winded essay on Flash, Thoughts on Flash, Steve Jobs goes into the inherent problems of mobile use of Flash.

“Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.” – Steve Jobs

Technology lovers can agree that there are some drawbacks to Flash, namely the fact it’s not completely open source, if it all, considering it’s a proprietary platform. And while being a great tool for multimedia, it lacks sufficient depth in other areas like battery performance, and overall implementation for mobile devices. The recent release of Flash 10 highlighted some new text features. And with that ability, came the full implementation of dynamic text abilities, for example, being able to display a news website, say the New York Times, using the glory of Flash’s new text engine. The newer system in Flash 10 is called the ActionScript-based Text Layout Framework. This delivers rich typography to the Web, within live Web layouts.

Many industry experts believe that HTML is an evolving to become a multimedia powerhouse, so that at one point in time, or another, it may outgrow the capabilities of Flash, at least on mobile platforms. While this may or may not be true, HTML is a fully featured API, and Flash is too, but there are differences and divergences where they can grow; it isn’t necessarily wrong for Flash to break into the mobile market, considering their platform is multimedia. In essence, both API’s are fundamentally different, but also have some similar capabilities.

There is a battle between multimedia API’s, but there is a battle between every other video format as well. It’s a natural course for technology. There is no real danger of Flash being minimized in their marketplace, but HTML 5 will most likely grow, as more people adopt new technology, and remove older cobwebs from their Web designs.

Take Silverlight for example, a competitor to Adobe Flash, it enjoys its market share and is just as fully featured as Flash, yet they both exist and live on. Obviously, open-source is the way to go for software development. People enjoy the idea that they can grab hold of a piece of free software, and use it to their hearts content. And of course, I enjoy open-source software too. This is where the debate begins for any piece of software, like Adobe’s Flash or Microsoft’s Silverlight. It’s like the battle between Microsoft Windows and Linux–each with their advantages and disadvantages, although many people claim that one or the other is far superior.

The Adobe Flash white paper (PDF) highlights the capabilities of the Flash technology.

• A recognizable and complete system for video and multimedia development-and open source framework
• A platform that delivers content to the widest selection of Operating Systems, and other end-user variables
• Integrated development tools and workflow support, for front-end and back-end development
• Compatible with a large variety of open standards, easily integrated with Web, Java™, and .NET infrastructures

A short introduction and related book on HTML 5 and CSS3 (PDF) by Brian P. Hogan, Develop with Tomorrow’s Standards Today, displays the technology.

• Used for Web friendly applications
• New elements for defining site structure
• All kinds of embeddable items
• Extra markup, and advanced multimedia support in CSS3
• AJAX-the buzz word for Web design and Java for the Web

In a blog post on June 8, Google announced, “Our new search index: Caffeine”

And as Google works to improve their search engine, on a day-to-day basis, they have introduced new ways to speed up the process of searching. With the completion of Google Caffeine, they have improved the functionality, and speed of search engine results and indexing.

The Basics of Google Caffeine

• 50% fresher results for Web searches, better and faster content retrieval, quicker updates…
• A search index capable of retrieving results in parallel; able to process hundreds and thousands of pages in a matter of seconds…
• With parallel processing, Google Caffeine is able to index and retrieve Web pages on an enormous scale.
• Temporal relevancy determines newer, fresher and more updated content. Think of temporal relevancy like breaking news; when something important happens, it needs to be quickly found online.

If you are wondering, or a bit confused, as to what we are talking about, do not worry–Google has a video on how search and caffeine work. When you search Google, for say the keyword “cute puppy” you are in fact retrieving Google’s cache of its search index; you are not retrieving a real time result, but a copy of Google’s cache of that Web page.

“We’ve moved from a batched indexing system to an incremental system that enables us to more quickly and efficiently refresh pages.” – Google spokesperson Jake Hubert

When you search for any keyword, Google’s API will query its massive index for all matching terms, and then it will display the results. You may ask, “How did Google collect the index?” Well, Google employs the use of bots that crawl the Web continuously; they download new or existing pages, cache them, and then update the index. Bots work by crawling the links on a page–that is how they got their name.

The effort to maintain and keep this index up-to-date is a massive one. Google datacenters are the heart of operations, with super clusters of servers that network their entire infrastructure and indices together. Therefore, when you search for the keyword “cute puppy” all of their technology comes together in unison to bring you the results.

Google realizes that search engine users want the freshest content they can find. With the older indexing system, results came up relatively fast, but as more content was added to the Web, the pace of new information would have been troublesome to maintain.

“In fact, every second Caffeine processes hundreds of thousands of pages in parallel. If this were a pile of paper it would grow three miles taller every second.” – Carrie Grimes, Software Engineer at Google

The Scale of Google Caffeine

Google processes Web pages at astronomical speeds and lengths:

• One index can take up nearly 100 million gigabytes of storage.
• Google adds new information to the index at an alarming and rapid rate; hundreds and thousands of gigabytes per day.

Estimated size of Google’s index – Image courtesy of http://www.worldwidewebsize.com

However, with Google Caffeine, and possible future speed improvements, the company is able to keep up with an ever-increasing amount of Web content–social media for example has been one large data mine. Google does not index certain elements of many social media websites, for privacy reasons. And some social media websites do employ the “content=noindex” or “rel=nofollow” HTML tags. Noindex tells Google’s bots to ignore the index, i.e. not to cache the Web page. Nofollow tells the bots not to assign any importance on the link, i.e. Page Rank/authority; it makes a link transparent.

What Google has also done is index certain public elements of social media, for example, the public profile section of your Facebook account–if you set it to public. They have also employed real time results via social media services like Twitter. If you want to see real time results in action, search for anything that is popular in the news, say “congress.” Then click the “latest” link on the left side. You should get a Twitter feed in the results.

Essentially, Google fully realizes the need to scale their search engine with the growth of information online.

Cirrus ABS – Experts at Web development, design and technology…

Since its founding in 1995, Cirrus ABS has worked to deliver award-winning Website design and Web development on a national scale. From our headquarters in Fort Wayne, IN to other regional offices like Indianapolis, IN we have delivered astonishingly crafted websites to businesses who want professional Web design, development marketing, and more–using our unique Web technology, and solutions that we call the NetCentered Business Strategy and the Cirrus eBusiness Suite.

We are a full-service Web developer, offering many services that can achieve success and measurable results for your business online. We like to say that, “If you can dream it, we can build it.” And we put heavy importance on the ability of a business to get found online with search engine visibility.

For search engine optimization (SEO) services and localization like “Fort Wayne seo” or “Indianapolis seo” we have it covered. We understand that your business needs to be found for the localities that you serve–on a local, regional or national scale.

Contact Cirrus ABS today, ask about our award-wining Web design, or NetCentered Strategy, we are here to help serve your businesses needs online. You can call 1-877-817-4442 to speak with a solutions consultant. You can also request a free needs assessment to tell us what you may want for your website, or you can request an online demo with us that will highlight our advanced Web technologies.

We also have expert Web design and development that is focused on small business. View our Small Business Suite for an overview–it offers everything that a small business needs to succeed online. ]]> http://www.cirrusabs.com/blog/all-about-google-caffeine/feed/ 0 http://www.cirrusabs.com/blog/somebody-had-to-say-it/ http://www.cirrusabs.com/blog/somebody-had-to-say-it/#comments 06/24/2010 Bill Gardiner http://www.cirrusabs.com/blog/?p=634

A recent Huffington Post entry literally nails what we’ve been saying in marketing for some time now: phonebook advertising and yellow page advertising is essentially a dead horse.  Spending hundreds of dollars a month PER PHONEBOOK for an advertisement that is exclusive to your local market is, in today’s internet driven society, ludicrous.

The phonebook companies are desperately trying to sell you phonebook advertising (yellow page advertising) and bundling it with other services to make it seem more valuable but you need to ask yourself: “when is the last time I opened the yellow pages?”  Even the “free listing” on the phonebook companies’ websites may seem valuable but, in reality, is a thinly disguised plea for your marketing dollar. Compete.com released the March 2010 listing of the top 50 (that’s fifty, 5-0) websites worldwide and neither yellowpages.com, superpages.com, nor any other phonebook listing website was included on the list.  That’s right folks; Target.com gets more traffic than ANY form of phonebook website.

OK OK, please don’t take my “rant” the wrong way, if your business serves a local market (particularly B2C) then you must be listed (free listing is fine) because there is still a portion of your demographic that “let’s their fingers to the walking” – this demographic is shrinking quickly but the intent of these people is far too great to ignore them.  So maximize your advertising dollar by going where the people are, invest in search engine optimization, social media (particularly Facebook, YouTube, Twitter) and stop spending on legacy methods if you can.

For more information on Cirrus ABS and our NetCentered marketing programs, SEO and Social Media programs, contact us today or RSVP for a seminar today!

If you’re one of the hip, tech savvy, Starbucks swilling, series finale of Lost-lamenting, smart phone-toting, internet junkies so prominent in this modern society, you may be aware of the latest fad in social media, GPS location apps.  These applications, such as Gowalla or Foursquare, tap into both man’s craving for social interaction, and his need to broadcast useless information to anyone unlucky enough to be on his contact list.

For the uninitiated, GPS location apps allow you to “check-in” with your smart phone (or iPad) when you’re out and about, recording your location and broadcasting it to any friends tied in to your social network.  The idea here is that your friends will see that you’ve checked in at said location, and either come along to join you, or have a much easier time avoiding you.

Being smack-dab in the middle of the target demographic (I’m so active within the realm of social media, you could call me Neo), I’ve been using both aforementioned apps for a number of months now, and several annoying behaviors of users have come to light.  In an effort to correct these issues (and yes, exercise a little self-righteousness), here are Ben’s Geolocation App Rules of Etiquette.

1. No checking in at places you’re just passing by. Both Gowalla and Foursquare award points for checking in at different venues, thus sparking some incentive to just press “check-in” at every venue within range.  This defeats the purpose of the app, is totally obvious by looking at the offending user’s profile (as check-ins are time-stamped), and is punishable by being punched in the face.
2. Don’t send your check-ins to other social networks without providing useful information or at least attempting witty commentary. The popular geolocation apps allow you to forward your check-in information to other popular social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.  They also allow you to attach a comment.  Twitter is already full of useless commentary, and most people would find “Just fought off a legion of ninjas (@ the park)” more interesting than the default “I just checked in (@ the park)”.
3. Don’t add your (or your friends’) current place of residence as a venue. If Facebook or Twitter is any indication, many people don’t seem to realize that if you put information on the internet, ANYONE CAN READ IT.  That being said, posting coordinates to your home on an app that specifically tells people when you’re not there seems like an obvious mistake to avoid.  I’ve definitely felt inclined to knock on a stranger’s door after seeing a nearby home on Foursquare, wait for them to answer then say, “Just checking in” or “As the mayor of this location, I demand to use your bathroom!”
4. Don’t check in anywhere that might reveal sensitive information. By the same token as keeping your home’s location private, there are other places you might not want to alert the entire world’s attention to.  Checking in at the doctor’s office and commenting, “Getting this rash checked out.  Hope it’s not contagious!” is ill advised if you’d like to hang out with your friends ever again.  Places like banks, courtrooms, trashy nightclubs, and adult bookstores should also be kept private.

Well, there you have it, the final ruling on how to properly use Foursquare, Gowalla, or any other upcoming geolocation apps.  After all, if someone blogs about it, it MUST be true!  However, if you think you have any credible addendums, disagreements, or additional rules, list them in the comments.

Life at Google, living with the Internet giant and the Engineer question.

In a recent blog post called “Working at Google–the first 6 months” by Don Dodge, a developer advocate for Google, he explains what it is like working for the Internet giant. He says that the working environment feels like a startup still, with everything moving at a fast pace, and things changing at a moment’s notice.

He compares the now ten-year-old Google to Microsoft. Saying that in 1985, when Microsoft was just ten years old, the similarities were striking. Microsoft DOS was enormously successful, and the company was just starting to branch out in other areas. Comparatively, Google had initial success with search and now are branching out into other areas of technology, such as Gmail, Google Apps, Android, etc.

He then goes on to focus on what it is like to work for Google, or (in our words) to live the “Google Life.”

Related story: TIME Magazine photo essay, “Life in the Googleplex”

He starts by saying that the atmosphere at Google is confident. Success, optimism, dedication, hard work and winning are the key values. He compares working for Google to playing for the New England Patriots and winning Super Bowls.

Nevertheless, one statement seemed to evoke a response from Chris Matyszczyk at the CNET Blog Network, in a blog post called “Is Google far too much in love with engineering?” The response from Chris M. references what Dodge said on his blog post about how Google goes about employing workers and management. Dodge relates to the fact that almost everyone at the company has an engineering background–from upper management, to entry level.

He quantifies this by saying that engineers bring valuable qualities to the core values of the company. From questions, assumptions, data and decisions, he says that engineers are some of the best fits for Google. Overall, he says that what the company does is data, and engineers are great at gathering and assimilating it. Essentially, they offer a systematic approach to data versus a
disorganized one.

In response, Chris M. argues that Google may go a bit too far with its use of engineer’s. One statement made by Dodge seemed to evoke further questioning, “Educational achievement is valued at Google.” Chris M. retorts, “Do complex interview questions really test your educational achievement?”

My answer? Complex interview questions are great rules for baseline assumptions, but connecting the two with educational achievement is farfetched. Sure, a complex interview process with related questions is a great way to find highly proficient candidates. However, Chris M. is partially right in assuming that Google may love engineer’s a bit too much.

It seems as though Google has taken the appeal of engineering to near astronomical levels, by stipulating that marketing, sales, development and management areas of the company include employees with a background in engineering.

“My troubled educational achievement suggests to me that Dodge is holding up this intellectual monochrome of leadership as a good thing. He is suggesting that this is a company that is so immersed in engineering that only those who understand its complex rudiments can be trusted to, say, market Google’s products.” – Chris Matyszczyk, writer, CNET Blog Network

Essentially, Chris M. argues that Dodge’s statement reflect somewhat of a “presumptuous” attitude–one held at the esteem of Google itself. I will partially agree on this point. Most of us will agree that Google does data. Search is all about data. We also might agree that engineers are valuable for the technical side of things like search engines, databases, information technology, and of course engineering.

But, hold the presses, please. Engineers for marketing? Engineers for sales? For writing, even? Is Google creating Willy Wonka and the Engineering Factory? We might understand the need for engineering at many levels at Google, because of their focus on it. However, it is my assumption that there are more kinds of people who can understand the products and processes of Google, besides just engineers.

At the end of the day, Google puts value in engineering on all levels. And wearing many different hats is not exactly a new idea in business of today. Can successful and proven marketers do a better job at marketing than one with a background in engineering? Can writers with a college degree in English and experience at writing be more proficient than those with no related degree or experience? I hope so.

But from Google’s viewpoint, engineers are valuable to all aspects of their business. They are effectively saying that to understand their technology for whatever sphere of business–that an engineering background is the best fit. Is that wrong? Not at all. Is it a bit misguided? Perhaps. Is it successful? Most certainly.

Let us take it to the comments, to see how people reacted to the blog post of Chris Matyszczyk:

Spitbucket said,

“Engineers can make a robust software functionality but it takes a good designer and usability expert for the product to appeal to the masses. Majority of the googlers are left-brainer, I think google should start hiring some right-brainer people to put some human aspect on their product.”

EvaSei said,

“You know what I really don’t mind the fact that every person at google has a background in engineering, it has proved time and time again to produce excellent product.”

Ecotopian said,

“This is why Apple will beat Google. Engineers don’t get what ordinary people want in a computer interface. I hate software that looks and feels like it was designed by engineers. Apple are the Human Interface experts, and also have a top team of engineers. But they don’t let the engineers lead.”

Gfonsecaz said,

“I think you are also assuming that all engineers are completely left-brain people without any creative skills. That’s a completely false idea. You need to be quite creative to come up with engineering solutions. Sure, as an engineer you have to make unbiased decisions based on data but that doesn’t mean by any stretch that engineers do not use their imaginative side in many ways. Maybe you should have interacted with more engineers before writing this column.”

Cirrus ABS – Understanding the value of Web technology & search engines…

If you are wondering about our technology and practices here at Cirrus ABS, look no further. We employ an experienced team of successful and driven Web gurus–in all areas of Web technology. From writing, marketing, technology and more, we have complete Web solutions for the online needs of a business.

And from Website development, to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and more, our ongoing support, process and proven results can achieve success for your business on the Web.

Contact Cirrus ABS and ask about our complete Web solutions. From our Small Business Suite (SBS), to the Cirrus eBusiness Suite Platform, we can do anything for Web-based business, no matter what size of company. ]]> http://www.cirrusabs.com/blog/the-google-life/feed/ 0 http://www.cirrusabs.com/blog/5-handy-firefox-add-ons-for-web-developers/ http://www.cirrusabs.com/blog/5-handy-firefox-add-ons-for-web-developers/#comments 06/22/2010 Rick Kemery http://www.cirrusabs.com/blog/?p=558

Many times a Web developer may need a handy utility to speed up a process. The follow list of Firefox add-ons can do just that. For helping with Web design, an add-on like ColorZilla can help select the right colors, by using a Photoshop style palette chooser.

And for Web development, the Firebug add-on can provide a full-range of debugging tools.

ColorZilla

ColorZilla can help when it is difficult to find the exact color that you are looking for. This handy Firefox add-on provides a Photoshop style color picker and palette browser. If you are stuck on selecting the right color for Web design, this add-on is meant for you. It provides a quick way to match a color found on the Web to a design. And you will not have to open Photoshop to get the right color. It is also wonderful for developing a color swatch.

Firebug

Firebug can be a great companion for Web development. This add-on offers a comprehensive suite of debugging tools, which allows a Web developer to view code properties on every Web page. With Firebug, you will be able to view and edit the HTML, CSS and JavaScript properties of a Web page. Plus you will be able to view potential bandwidth bottlenecks and HTTP headers. This is an excellent utility if you are looking for an easy to use debugging add-on.

Web Developer

Some say that the Web Developer add-on is a virtual “Swiss army knife.” With Web Developer, you will be able to disable key browser features, such as JavaScript, images, CSS and more. Plus, you are able to view and edit a Web page’s CSS and HTML on the fly.

A debugging tool is included for dynamic JavaScript, which is also good for AJAX debugging. You will get the ability to edit forms and form data. There is also an additional line guide and ruler for measuring out Web pages on a pixel-by-pixel basis.

Save Complete

With Save Complete, a user can save an entire Web page to their hard-drive, without downloading difficulty. If one uses the traditional “Save Page As” option in Firefox, a few things could go missing in the offline copy, such as images or CSS elements. Save Complete is great for archiving purposes, and even better for storing the entirety of a Web page.

Screengrab

Screengrab can help if you want a quick utility to capture a mockup image of a Web page, . Without needing to open up your favorite image editor, this add-on can take an entire screen grab of a Web page, allow you to grab certain portions of a page, or a selection. Other options include “copy to clipboard” and “save as a file.” This is a handy add-on for Web designers who are consistently mocking up Web pages and need quick access to a complete screenshot utility.

These add-ons are great for a novice or casual Web developer, but if you are looking for a professional website design, we have just the right thing.

Need a complete solution for your website? We have what it takes to win on the web…

At Cirrus ABS, we combine our expert approach to Web design and Web development in our NetCentered Business Strategy. We provide a full-range of Web services, from expert copy writing, to complete solutions for online marketing – we have it all and more. We’re not a traditional Web design firm, because we go beyond what’s offered somewhere else.

And the technology that drives our successful Web solutions? The Cirrus eBusiness Suite, a comprehensive Web platform.

Contact Cirrus ABS to ask about our comprehensive Web solutions and how they can work the best for you. We serve any size of business, with our Small Business Website (SBS) offerings, to our competitive industry solutions. ]]> http://www.cirrusabs.com/blog/5-handy-firefox-add-ons-for-web-developers/feed/ 0 http://www.cirrusabs.com/blog/writing-for-blogs-and-optimization/ http://www.cirrusabs.com/blog/writing-for-blogs-and-optimization/#comments 06/21/2010 Rick Kemery http://www.cirrusabs.com/blog/?p=528

For the optimization of a blog, the All in One SEO Pack should be considered a “must have” for blog writers. Fundamentals of the pack include in the ability to edit the title, description and keywords of a blog post. For new users of WordPress, this plugin provides out-of-the-box workability. After installing, a user can access main features immediately, without the need for additional configuration. And for an advanced user, it supports a variety of features to fine-tune its integration on a blog, such as canonical URLs and title formatting.

And for blog writing? Well, develop your personal blogging style with attention to a few tips found in this blog post. These can help out in key areas such as readability and tone.

All in One SEO Pack

Under the settings menu, there are options to edit the home title, description and keywords of a blog. This will allow for quick optimization of a home page, without the need to edit files. When writing a title for either a home page or a blog post, keep the message clear and to the point. As the pack suggests, search engines use a maximum of 60 characters in the title. Being able to provide a concise message, within the restrictions of character count, is one approach to writing effectively with this package.

Search engines use the description field to provide a snippet on a results page. Again, try to be clear and concise while ensuring that the description is below or at 160 characters. Writing effectively for both the title and description helps keep a uniform and clean format throughout a blog. And when search engine users find this content, the title and description will both adequately convey the topic and message of the post, while conforming to standards.

The All in One SEO Pack will also use keywords automatically with associated blog tags. However, this section is not as “mission critical” as ensuring that a clear and concise title and description are present. However, make sure that both the associated tags and keywords reflect the topical meaning of a post.

Blog Writing

Aside from writing the title and description concisely, it can take years of work at writing to develop fluency in tone, delivery and style. And to develop one’s own writing style, the best approach is most certainly hard work and commitment. A well-respected and prolific English novelist, Anthony Trollope, who was popular for writing The Eustace Diamonds, would dutifully write 250 words of a novel each day and would never skip a day of writing.

Trollope’s personal quotes reflect his feelings about writing,

“There is no way of writing well and also of writing easily” and “Three hours a day will produce as much as a man ought to write.”

As one starts to develop their style of writing, they will start to notice the intrinsic qualities of their style. They’ll be able to edit on the word and sentence level more aptly, to convey a concise and overarching message throughout a piece of work. As one starts to get better at writing and editing, they’ll be able to develop and refine their tone to reach and captivate a varied audience-but it starts with hard work, and a commitment to writing.

As you may know, writing for a blog is somewhat different from website content writing. To develop a style of blog writing, approach a target audience with informality and a conversational tone. Essentially, effective blog writing conveys your own conversational tone and a passion for a given topic. Once you are finished writing, read the post aloud and slowly, paying attention to the syllables of each word and their overall flow from one word to the next. For example, the following universal English phrase, “the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain” flows well, reads well and has certain resonant sound characteristics, namely assonance and alliteration.

Flesch-Kincaid Formula

One can also gauge the grade level of their writing by looking at the Flesch-Kincaid formula. This assigns a grade level and score to a text, to determine the overall difficulty of reading. Generally, academia reads on a Flesch-Kincaid score of the low 30s, and print/magazine tends to score in the 50s, or at the high-school grade level. It is based on the syllable counts in the text, and the use of simple words versus complex words (monosyllable or disyllable words versus tri-syllable or more).

The Flesch-Kincaid formula is interesting to look at, but not the end-all of writing. Use it as a tool to understand how word usage affects the reading of a text, and how important that can be to determining the ease of reading. Microsoft Word has the ability to score readability statistics using Flesch-Kincaid, if you check “Show readability statistics” under the proofing section in Word options.

Cirrus ABS – Web design and copy from seasoned professionals…

And if you’re looking to have a team of seasoned and professional writers to craft exceptionally written Web copy, we can help. At Cirrus ABS, we meld our team experience into all aspects of Web design, development and copy writing, including the business process and marketing with our award-winning Cirrus eBusiness Suite platform.

Contact Cirrus ABS to learn about our unique Web approach. We’re headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana and have been in the business of Web solutions and NetCentered business strategy since 1995. ]]> http://www.cirrusabs.com/blog/writing-for-blogs-and-optimization/feed/ 0 http://www.cirrusabs.com/blog/the-mindboggling-growth-of-social-media/ http://www.cirrusabs.com/blog/the-mindboggling-growth-of-social-media/#comments 06/17/2010 Rick Kemery http://www.cirrusabs.com/blog/?p=498

It’s widely known that social media is a melting pot of activity, but recent social media statistics point to overwhelming areas of growth.

For example, Facebook now has more than 400 million active users, which is 5 times that of Twitter’s. Given that around half of those active users logon to Facebook every day, this means that around 200 million users are logging on with a daily recurrence.

What’s even more interesting is that Facebook has stated that a typical user has around 130 friends. People are not only actively engaging with Facebook, but also creating large networks of friends to share information – it’s certainly being done on a larger scale now.

Twitter as well, is another skyrocketing social media service that seems to be growing with undeniable ferocity. Compared with social media data provided by Sysomos and RJMetrics, Twitter ended 2009 with around 75 million user accounts – 1/5^th of Facebook, but a very generous figure still. July 2009 was the peak time for new user accounts. The social media data suggests that at peak times, new Twitter accounts are created at 2 or 3 per second.

Interestingly enough there seems to be much “dead space” on Twitter. This relative social media black hole accounts for 25% of Twitter users who have no followers, and the 40% of accounts that have never tweeted even once. While this dead space may seem alarming, it’s actually very relatable.

Twitter is essentially an “on-demand” service, therefore it requires much diligence on a user to keep up with every second of passing information – to get involved and engaged thoroughly requires much effort and upkeep.

Many people may create a Twitter account for this sole reason, but then realize that the required effort is too overwhelming. Other factors may be simply the draw of creating a Twitter account to get involved in the community, only to realize that you need a solid base of followers and interaction – another potentially foreboding social media element to Twitter.

At any rate, RJMetrics makes another suggestion. Users who stay with Twitter and become engaged, “make up” for all that dead space – the roughly 20% of active users on Twitter accounts for 15 million highly active tweeters. In fact, it’s a completely different social media atmosphere when compared with Facebook.

Statistics like these are great for general metrics on social media usage, but if your business needs a complete approach to social media and marketing we have it.

Build your brand with our expert marketing approach…

At Cirrus ABS, we combine traditional marketing approaches with powerful Web driven ones. We can help your business build brand recognition, and position yourself for success on the web, and increased visibility. We believe a business needs a complete approach to the Web for developing success online. And with our advanced technology and savvy, we provide the best blend of Web development, marketing and business process services.

Contact Cirrus ABS, or request a free needs assessment. We have a complete range of Web solutions that can satisfy the online needs of your business.

Would you give someone you didn’t know access to your bank account?  Probably not.  And while you might think it is not as important that it be secure—your website should be just as secure as your bank account because your site is your public face!  And you can’t have fraud protection on it, you have to protect it yourself.

Here’s my 2 cents:

• Your website should not have an easy-to-guess password.  If your password is your website URL, change it.  If your password is your company name, change it.  If your password is password1, change it.  Don’t use your address, company phone number, zip code, or anything else that is an easy guess for the public.  I’ve also seen passwords that are the main product you sell—so if you sell phones and your passwords is phones—probably not the most secure.
• Know who has a password.  I’ve seen it happen where someone doesn’t know who has a password to their site and a disgruntled employee logs in and make their own “modifications” to the site—normally they’re not the most tasteful or truthful.  Not to say that will happen with any disgruntled employee, but it is a possibility.  When someone leaves, remove their access or change the password they knew.
• Control who can edit what parts of the website.  Your Cirrus ABS developed website can allow you to be specific on which users can see what when they login.  If someone should not have access to something, do not give them the access.
• Create passwords that are secure enough not to be guessed.  Replace an ‘E’ with a ‘3,’ or an ‘S’ with an ‘$,’ and so on.

Hope that helps…good luck creating your passwords!  For any assistance with password requirements for your Cirrus eBusiness solution, contact our support department.

Other blogs with tips for your website:

• Just Don’t Do It
• A URL You Can Be Proud Of
• Leave My Browser Alone