User Experience-Focused Web Design Makes Hireimmigrants.ca a One-Stop Help Center for Employers
November 30, 2011 — TORONTO, ONTARIO — Toronto-based digital marketing agency Kobayashi Online has redesigned Hireimmigrants.ca to provide a user experience that guides employers through the process and benefits of recruiting, retaining and promoting skilled immigrants. Read the rest of this entry »
A great webpage is more than just the product of good code. Think back to the last time you navigated a website and found the information, product or service you were looking for. If this was a positive experience, chances are that a lot of thought went into creating a site that looks good and provides you with what you want in the simplest way. This type of site uses design, layout, and functionality to create an effective user experience.
In this post, we examine these three basic building blocks and how they impact the way a site operates. Read the rest of this entry »
Kobayashi Online is proud to be a supporting sponsor of Donato Salon + Spa’s Cut-A-Thon and Toy Drive for SickKids this weekend.
Kobayashi Online handles many aspects of Donato’s Web presence, having created their eCommerce website and integrated blog, as well as a custom email gift certificate solution.
A successful charity campaign needs to have a strong online element, and for this latest campaign, Kobayashi Online added a Cut-A-Thon pop up ad to both the donato.ca and donatoacademy.com websites. The pop up ensures that visitors to the website are instantly aware of the event. Read the rest of this entry »
Around the Office is a weekly group blog that shows what the OnlineFriendly.biz team and Kobayashi Online have found interesting, funny, poignant, or otherwise notable over the past week.
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Casual looking fonts have come a long way since Comic Sans, Brent thinks. Vandelay Design’s 25 free graffiti fonts provide ample evidence that the look of spray paint can be captured digitally. If graffiti isn’t your style, we recommend checking out some Web typography services that provide fonts for any taste.
Want your content to be found online? Wayne wants you to know about an HTML standard that can be understood by the major search engines. Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! have all agreed on schema.org as a universal way of providing meta data (or microdata) elements within HTML. This means you can more accurately label anything — whether it’s a movie, a book, song or product — in the eyes of search engines.
Daveed is interested in seeing how Grooveshark will fare against Universal Music Group, which is suing the music streaming service for allegedly uploading 100,000 files illegally. UMG is seeking as much as $150,000 in damages for each infringement, which could potentially cost the fledgling music service $15 billion. This seems similar to the lawsuit between Microsoft and bookseller Barnes & Noble over patents we talked about last week. Intellectual property, of course, should be defended, but some worry that overzealous copyright and patent litigation could stifle innovation.
Finally, we’re all excited for this weekend’s Cut-A-Thon and Toy Drive, where our client Donato Salon + Spa will be cutting and styling all day on Sunday, November 27, and donating all proceeds to the SickKids Hospital Foundation. Kobayashi Online is behind many aspects of Donato’s Web presence, having created its e-commerce website, integrated blog, and a custom email gift certificate solution. For Donato’s latest campaign, we added Cut A Thon pop up ads to its website to remind visitors about the charity event. Go get a haircut for a good cause!
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Facebook Pages are great for keeping your company’s fans updated on the latest developments, promotions, and information about your company and industry. Visitors who click the “Like” button on your Page will be able to see posts from your Facebook Page when they access their Facebook timeline. “If you build it, they will come” doesn’t necessarily apply to a Facebook Page. Even if it does, your fans will grow tired of your Facebook Page if being a friend doesn’t benefit them.
In this post, we explain some ways in which you could be ruining your Facebook Page, and weakening your friendships. Read the rest of this entry »
Around the Office is a weekly group blog that shows what the OnlineFriendly.biz team and Kobayashi Online have found interesting, funny, poignant, or otherwise notable over the past week.
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Roberto found out a few ways to thoroughly secure a WordPress-based site. Some tips include never using the default “admin” user name, installing the WP Security Scan plugin, and protecting the wp-config.php file. Choosing a secure password is also important, so pick something better than “guest”.
Daveed is interested in the drama that’s unfolding as Barnes & Noble claims Microsoft is trying to stifle competition among mobile devices through patent law, and asking the US Department of Justice to investigate. Many companies that sell devices based on Google’s open-source Android operating system have agreed to Microsoft license fees. However, Barnes & Noble, which recently launched its Nook Color eReader, has refused upping the stakes of this patent debate. Patents are supposed to protect inventors and some argue that the high value of patents could be incentive to innovate and create new patents, but others say patent cartels could unfairly hobble competitors. Given the money and principles at stake, it will be interesting to see which side wins.
Wayne is not alone in thinking that Google’s search encryption is an SEO game changer at least for analytics. Forget about drill-down analytics reports with data on inbound search strings, or where visitors came from — this information is now off-limits. And while we’re happy that encryption provides consumers more privacy, referrer blocking won’t be happening with paid Google ads, meaning there’s arguably a double standard where those who buy ads get better analytics — and more visitor information.
Eva saw Google take the stage this week with Google Music, a new cloud music service that is expected to compete with Apple’s iTunes platform. Google Music promises a new Web Music player and Android Music app are available now in the Android Market. It has also added a social element where you can share music you buy with for free on Google Plus. Interestingly, iTunes, currently the top online music store, added a social network known as Ping last year. As the online music store battle ensues, let’s hope these companies’ tactics ultimately help more artists get compensation for their music.
A Facebook “fan gate” is like a velvet rope that keeps out those who are not fans from a special area on your company’s Facebook Page. This off-limits area could feature special content and offers, and visitors must become “fans” in order to gain access.
As we’ve written before, having a Facebook Page and growing your Facebook fan base has many advantages, such as letting you play a greater role in online discussions about your company, keeping fans up-to-date, maintaining your relationship with them.
One of the main goals of your Facebook Page should be to convert visitors to fans. Each Page includes a call to action that prompts visitors to “like” your Page. A fan gate can strengthen a call to action by giving the visitor a specific reason to like.
For instance, we designed a Facebook fan gate for Sportball Québec, a non-competitive sports instruction company, that requires visitors to “like” their page in order to get a complimentary class.
Offering a special offer for fans only will help draw in fans. Some popular incentives include coupons and downloadable content such as mp3s, videos, and e-books. Consider the incentive part of the overall user experience you’re trying to create.
Once visitors click the “Like” button, you’ll have the opportunity to develop a deeper relationship with customers who will be able to see posts from your Facebook Page when they access their Facebook timeline. A fan gate may be the way your visitors become fans, but it’s up to you to keep them fans, so keep them interested with regular, engaging and useful content.
Need help creating and managing a Facebook Page, or building a fan gate? Kobayashi Online is here to help your company make the most of its presence on Facebook and other social networks!
Around the Office is a weekly group blog that shows what the OnlineFriendly.biz team and Kobayashi Online have found interesting, funny, poignant, or otherwise notable over the past week.
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Brent wants Windows users to know about one of his favourite shortcuts: Press the Windows Key and a number key (1-9) to start the application pinned to the taskbar in that position. A tip like this can help you save some time and be more productive. Beezix makes it its business to publish cheat sheets of instructions, tips and shortcuts for various applications. Check out their Twitter feed for daily tips.
Imagine if the Internet were peer-reviewed. Daveed found a project this week, hypothes.is, which is designed to let you easily slice through misinformation online. Hypothes.is is seeking funding to create something like as a browser plug-in for Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Chrome, which will support comments on all Web pages. Hypothes.is will essentially footnote the Web.
Roberto recommends a new infographic of when and where people share Web content. It turns out that peak sharing happens at 9:30am EST, Wednesday is the week’s biggest sharing day, and three-quarters of clicks on a share will happen within the first day that the content is shared.
This week we’ve also been thinking about the importance of mobile websites, which are becoming more important as mobile phones become a go-to place for Web browsing. We found the mobile content management system brick&mobile, which makes great-looking mobile web apps. And we learned about eight online apps to test mobile websites. Your next possible client may access your site on their phone, so do yourself a favour and make sure your site is mobile friendly.
The site for electric vehicle technology firm Better Place happened to be so stylish and well-organized that we thought we’d feature it on Design Focus.
It’s a clean and focused corporate website that shows a progressive, professional, and practical company — exactly the image an engineering firm would want to present. And it incorporates a lot of design, marketing and SEO features that make the site notable. It also incorporates the content management system WordPress, which makes updating content easier, and up-to-date content adds to the site’s overall value to visitors.
In this post, we’ll show you some of the smart decisions the website’s designers made, and offer some constructive criticism that can be used to enhance an already brilliant website.
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Since Facebook introduced “Facebook Pages” in 2007, a wide array of organizations, businesses, celebrities, and brands have been using them to broadcast information to those “followers” or “fans” who choose to connect with them. Having a Facebook Page has garnered considerable buzz in the marketing world, but it does require some effort to have a successful Page.
One of the cornerstones of our online marketing philosophy is that your reputation is built through all interactions you have with customers and potential clients. Facebook offers more opportunities to interact with them and expand your visibility.
While negative interactions can harm your reputation, quality ones help create goodwill towards your brand. We think the potential to create more ecstatic customers outweighs the risks, and that interactions that properly and professionally field criticism can help create even more goodwill.
Making a Facebook Page can take just a few minutes, and be as simple as providing some company information and website URL, and uploading your logo.
In this post we offer five reasons why you should create a Facebook Page, and make it a priority for your business.
Where you can get the simple facts on how to create online friendly and desirable websites and experiences. Our mission at Kobayashi Technology.
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