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.

A lot can happen in five months! Roberto is interested in testing out at least some of the 35 most interesting and useful WordPress plugins released since September 2011. Included in the list is: a plugin that replaces the default comments widget with the Facebook Comments widget; a plugin that regularly backs up your website; and a plugin that helps secure your WordPress page. And now that you’ve got a bunch of new plugins, the Plugin Performance Profiler (or P3) will measure the impact of your plugin on your site’s load time.

Daveed is a little weary about Google’s changes to its privacy policy that will let it track consumers across its many online products such as YouTube, Gmail and Google Search. According to a Washington post article, Google will be amalgamating its data to create a more complete picture of its users. Many think this goes too far, especially because they won’t be able to opt out of being tracked. It may be little consolation, but Google wants to use this extra information to do “cool things”. (If you want to know what Google already thinks of you, check your interest and age profile.)

Brent was able to exchange some ideas on how to use Facebook to drive engagement at Dx3 Canada, a Toronto trade show dedicated to digital marketing, advertising and retail. One company that is using Facebook well is Etsy, an online marketplace that created an app which suggests items to you based on the likes and interests of your Facebook friends. This is supposed to make shopping for gifts easier, but it also helps make Etsy a more attractive site to buy from. With 18 million Canadians active on Facebook, companies stand to benefit from using the platform — preferably with a some elegance and creativity.

A billboard in the shape of an HTC mobile phone

Mobile devices are competing with traditional advertising like billboards for consumer attention. (image by fschroiff)

Signs and billboards often vie for our attention while we’re out and about. These can be thought of as predecessors of mobile marketing. As our glances turn towards our own smart phones and tablets, these devices have become a natural destination for advertising and engagement.

Mobile marketing is marketing that engages people where they are, and when they’re interested in making a purchase. No wonder it has gained status as a business buzz term.

But what is mobile marketing? It can be thought of as a catchall term for practices including mobile websites, QR Codes, text messages, mobile apps, and location-based marketing.

In this post, we’ll go over the individual elements of mobile marketing, and give you an idea of what they can offer your business. 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.

Kobayashi Online – Around the Office

Eva is impressed with the minimal and clean site Fontsmith created to celebrate its 10 years creating custom fonts. In addition to the great website, Fontsmith has published a limited edition box-set of booklets it has produced over the past decade. What better way to celebrate beautiful fonts and 10 years in type?

As further proof that Daveed appreciates HTML5 on a deeper level than the average Web surfer, he drew our attention to a Google case study of how the Stanisław Lem doodle was built. In celebration of Lem’s impressive career as a science fiction writer, philosopher and satirist, Google created an interactive animation that demonstrates some of the considerations that went into programming the doodle using HTML5, the Internet’s new Web standard.

Roberto found out this week how people look at Facebook profiles — literally — thanks to a study that tracked where peoples’ eyes went when looking at social media profiles. According to the study, profile pictures garnered the most attention on Klout, Facebook and StumbleUpon, however, on LinkedIn, unsurprisingly, job title gets more interest. People are also very interested in who you know based on the attention they pay to the thumbnails of friends seen on social profiles. And, finally, people are most likely to see content close to the top of each page, so if it’s important, don’t make them scroll down.

Daveed found out that Google is making its search results more social. When signed into Google+, Google searches now include posts and uploaded items like photos from you and your friends. So now when you search for “Awesome things you can do with a paperclip”, for instance, you’ll find out what the budding MacGyvers on Google+ have done with a paperclip. We’re partial to the paperclip helicopter.

Our innate desire to socialize has helped make the Internet a platform where people share information and their life experiences. The social nature of the Internet is something that institutions like governments, universities and businesses, cannot ignore. Having been a by-product of this network revolution, e-commerce businesses have much to gain from taking a decidedly social approach to businesses. 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.

This week at Online Friendly, Roberto reminded us that search results can often boil down to writing better page titles — the world’s top search engine agrees. Eva got a glimpse at the state of social media thanks to a new infographic that shows its influence by the numbers. Duct Tape Marketing posted a great reminder on the importance of backing up data, and introduced some backup options for your social media updates, cloud services, and WordPress blog. We liked Pamela Vaughan’s breakdown of Web design and usability guidelines which include making a great first impression, consistency, and solid navigation. We followed along with HubSpot’s examination of five real-world landing pages that some show some ways to make landing pages that help drive more conversions. From leading customers to your product and sealing the deal and all places in between, 352 Media Group design director Daniel Alves broke down sales-focused e-commerce site design — which more-or-less align with our own e-commerce guidelines. We were inspired by 30 unusual, fresh and creative WordPress site designs chosen by wplift, and 23 Interesting HTML5 and CSS3 sites picked by Rocket Graphs.

Man hanging open sign on door

By now you’ve likely heard about how the Internet is transforming business, and at least a few e-commerce success stories. Whether you’re hoping to put your existing business on the Web or start a new online store, making the plunge into e-commerce can be rewarding. But it’s best to get your business started online properly.

In this post, we’ll look at some things to consider before opening an online store. 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.

In the first week of 2012, we wondered whether the doomsayers were wrong about their cataclysmic predictions about the year 2012 given the general lack of fire and brimstone. We were interested in what Nettuts+ counted as their year-end web development trends and their predictions — and we had some of our own. We were relieved when Web developer Kayla Knight in her mobile Web design manifesto echoed our sentiment that mobile isn’t an added feature; it’s a necessity. We found it touching that a Kleenex PR campaign finds sick people via Facebook and sends them Kleenex care packages in the mail. We agreed with Scott Stratten that marketers should be ashamed of spamming their social media contacts — and stop immediately. Our heads were turned by some very creative and memorable logos compliled by Vandalay Design. And the UnderConsideration 2012 Holiday Card helped keep us motivated for the new year.