http://www.blotdesign.com/articles.php Latest news from Blot Design Web Developement based in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Blot Design CMS http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=87 Recently we've had more than a few colleagues and clients comment on the same adverts popping up on the various sites they visit.  It's as if these ads are 'following them around'. The visited sites didn't have anything in common, but still the same adverts kept coming up.  In most cases, the individual had clicked on the ad once before while browsing. Are there sinister adverts following your every move?  Well yes and no.  What is probably ....... http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=87 Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=86 If your website is a few years old, it might be starting to look a little narrow on the latest laptop and monitors. Is it an easy task for your developer to make it wider? The answer is that it very much depends on the site design. If it is a very simple design, say with a single column of 760 pixels (to fit an old 800x600 monitor), then it would probably be a very simple ....... http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=86 Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=85 Do you use email marketing to promote your business. If you do, you'll no doubt receive reports about the number of 'bounces' each time you send out a campaign. Is this something you look at or just discard? A 'bounce' in email marketing is when an email could not be delivered to its recipient. Email marketing companies business is dependant on delivering emails, so they make every effort to deliver the email - some companies will ....... http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=85 Thu, 20 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=84 Facebook and social media in general seems to be everywhere these days. It's permeated just about everywhere. But for some people social media is just something reported in the press, something young people do, something other people do, and something they would never use - they are the Facebook Lost Generation. Facebook is the most successful social media platform right now, and probably will be for the foreseeable future. Millions, billions of members and used morning ....... http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=84 Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=83 If you've got a website with a contact form, you're probably sick to death of getting these unsolicited messages from people who don't know you, telling you they will get you to the top of the search engines. They're usually from someone with a gmail.com address and a dubious phone number and say something like this: "We noticed that you are not at the top of the search engines for a number of your key terms. ....... http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=83 Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=82 Am I missing something here? Google's nascent +1 facility is similar to the Facebook 'like' but ANYONE can see that you personally have +1'd a page. Doesn't this restrict how much people will use it? You've maybe seen the +1 icons appearing after each entry on a Google search results page. The idea is that you can click on the entry and it shows that you 'recommend' that page. Thing is, it associates ....... http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=82 Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=81 Have you noticed a reduction in the number of 'opens' that your email marketing campaign statistics are producing? When it comes to marketing in general and email marketing in particular, statistics can play a major part in telling you what's working and what isn't. In addition to our own monthly newsletter, we administer and send out campaigns for a range of clients and over the last 12 months, we've noticed a common trend - ....... http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=81 Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=80 It's a big job organising a city marathon and the Edinburgh marathon is by and large well organised. But when I dropped my daughter off to catch the bus to her relay stage I was given a classic example of not thinking about the customer. The marathon had lots of buses going to the different changeover points for the relay and at different times. As a runner (customer) you wanted to know quickly which ....... http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=80 Mon, 23 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=79 I attended the latest event from the excellent LongLunch in Glasgow last week and very interesting and entertaining it was. The talk was by Hans Wolbers, one of the founders and creative director of the Amsterdam based design agency, Lava. Lava have been around since 1990 and were recently named 'European Design Agency of the Year 2010' so they've got some strong credentials. Hans' presentation included many examples of their work and an insight into how ....... http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=79 Fri, 13 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=78 We recently had a query about using the IP address of web visitors to determine their geographic location and work out which services they would be allowed to use on the website. Will this work? The short answer is yes, but only up to a point and probably should only be used for non-critical purposes. First of all there really isn't any connection between an IP address and the geographic location. ....... http://www.blotdesign.com/article-detail.php?page=78 Tue, 12 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT