As a company whose culture thrives on creativity, no matter if that is born of technology, marketing, design or pure business mind; we here at DO love to look outside of our walls for true inspiration. On this evening, while working on an international marketing program for a client, I wandered the streets of urban culture and artists. I was drawn into a labyrinth of laborious art across the globe. And I wanted to share it with everyone.

Part of what makes our digital agency so unique is our ability to derive inspiration from everywhere at anytime. It’s even a core interview question for all candidates. If you’re stuck just staring at awards websites, CSS galleries, Behance and others; you never truly get that raw creative inspiration that’s required to ultimately create one of those tremendous pieces you often see in the latter mentioned sites.

I was going to keep this thought to my team, but it’s best shared with all of our readers and those looking for something a little different, to help them DO.

Enjoy.

• Street Art News – view work
• STATIC (East London studio) – view work
• Pinterest Street Art – view work
• Converse (Chinese Street Art Series) – view work

When magicians Dan and Dave needed their eCommerce site built they had an extra trick up their sleeve – Digital Operative. These two magicians needed an upgrade from their original eCommerce platform and Digital Operative – a Magento Solution Partner was happy to comply. Here at Digital Operative we put our creative, design, marketing, and development minds together and put together a site we are really proud of. It combines a clean layout with unparalleled shopping functionality. Features include:

• Streaming video product type,
• A unique user interface for product organization and navigation,
• A modified plugin to integrate videos into the media gallery,
• AJAX add to cart.

This site, which is already an award-winning site, is now featured on the Magento eCommerce Blog. If you are interested in how to do magic tricks, or just want to learn more about magic be sure to visit Dan and Dave’s site.

]]> http://www.digitaloperative.com/blog/2012/magento-go-seo-checklist/feed/ 0 http://www.digitaloperative.com/blog/2012/magento-go-seo-checklist/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalOperative/~3/bGzWCvc4ieo/ http://www.digitaloperative.com/blog/2012/3-ways-pinterest-can-help-market-your-business/#comments Sat, 18 Feb 2012 01:06:49 +0000 adamlu http://www.digitaloperative.com/blog/?p=1402

Pinterest is the social network darling of the moment, and your business should be making money from it. You may not have heard of Pinterest, but your consumers have. Pinterest is large (3.3 million users) and it captures users attention (average site time 72 minutes). I will briefly describe what Pinterest is, what makes it unique, and how you can use it to drive traffic to your website.

What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is basically a virtual bulletin board. It is a way to share interesting images online. A user will have many different boards, each themed around a different subject. When a user finds a picture that they like from a webpage they “pin” that picture onto their bulletin board. Like the other social networks users can follow other users and receive updates that the original user posts to their board.

What makes Pinterest unique?

• Most importantly Pinterest is a visual social network. Though conversations do occur, the whole premise is to receive messages visually rather than textually.
• When a user clicks on someone else’s pinned photo, Pinterest will take the user back to the original webpage where they found that photo. Visitors that are intrigued by a photo simply click it to find more information on the original webpage.
• Pinterest allows the user to see who the person re-pinned the photo from. If Sally re-pinned a photo from Joe and a user likes the photo, then maybe the user also wants to follow Joe.

How can I translate this into revenue?
To translate a Pinterest account into revenue ,the key is driving traffic.

1. Get your brand on Pinterest – creating a board (like Digital Operative’s – http://pinterest.com/digitaloperativ/) allows consumers to learn about your brand visually. This is a different experience than many webpages and allows you to tap into the emotional calls to a consumer. Pinterest is like a free, highly visual PPC ad without the paying for clicks.
2. Use re-pinning the same way you use re-tweeting – Pinterest is a visual social network that allows for easy sharing. Pinterest allows others to re-pin your content easily and a user that clicks on the re-pinned photo still goes back to the original source (your webpage). If you are part of an Internet company you probably already have excellent images, put them on the site and watch as people come to your site feeling inspired
3. Reach people who are not actively searching – Pinterest allows the marketer to post pictures in places where users are browsing anyway. As users browse through the various pictures they are not necessarily doing so by brand, but rather are doing so by image. This allows smaller brands to put their more visually stunning images up and compete with the bigger brands.  Additionally, these users are just looking at pictures and are not shopping. If they come across a photo and like it so much that they go to your page, that is a highly qualified visitor who is likely to convert.

So I do not remember getting any type of email from Twitter about getting a BETA or sneak peek at any type of redesign. Nonetheless, below is a screenshot I took after some of my followers were not seeing the same thing. So what do you think?

Another win for both the design team at DO and the client, Dan and Dave. We spend a lot of time at DO trying to create user experiences that are truly unique, simple and well-planned. DanandDave.com is not just a result of great UX planning, but also a cross functional team of designers and developers working together to make the best balance of content and ecommerce. Being featured on The Served (The Served Sites feature top projects from the Behance Network, filtered by industry) means a lot because its peers from your industry recognizing the solid work that your team is doing. Thanks to the curators at Behance.

About Dan and Dave

Dan and Dave have been called “visionaries” in the art of magic and cardistry. They are world renowned for their unique style and transformation of the craft into visual art.

Today is a new day for the color black. Today it drapes itself across some of the most visited websites across internet to oppose something called SOPA. According to EFF.org, it states “The Internet blacklist legislation—known as PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House—invites Internet security risks, threatens online speech, and hampers innovation on the Web.”

What companies went black today?

• Google
• Wordpress
• Wikipedia
• Mozilla Firefox
• Amazon – supporting with black banner to right
• Boing Boing
• Nicekicks – I like this site and it shows penetration of support to smaller players as well

How can you support this and take action?

• Understand SOPA – 1) BBC – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16612628 2) CNN – http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/17/technology/sopa_explained/index.htm
• View website gallery of images – http://news.cnet.com/2300-1023_3-10011024.html
• Write In – http://americancensorship.org/
• Join the Website Blackout List – http://sopastrike.com/

It’s all about education at the end of the day and knowing that the form you fill out, the petition you sign or that tweet you send matters.

Though Friday the 13th is generally considered an unlucky day, it is Friday and it can’t really be that bad. Here is the weekly round up of the top tech stories that you can’t miss this week. One story will affect your search engine optimization plans, one will effect your holiday shopping next year, and the final will make you rethink about mobile marketing.

1. Google launches “search plus your world”

Google continues its move to social networking dominance by launching “Google search plus your world”. Now, we all know that Google is the undisputed king when it comes to search, and we have all been watching as they awkwardly try to transition into social networking. It reminds me of when Eddie Murphy was the king of stand up comics and for some reason awkwardly tried to transition into being a singer. We all knew he was really good at one thing, and yet he had to try singing. But I digress. Google is launching “Search plus your world” for Google plus members which should benefit those social networkers who have become part of the Google Plus network. Google search plus your world will enable the user to search across both the wider internet that Google traditionally provides search results for as well as across your social network (Google Plus only). There is a little toggle switch at the top so you can choose between the two if you like. Here is an example of how it works:  you type in something like “Pizza” (My favorite search query) you will get both the traditional results, along with results that show your friends eating pizza, or pizza recipes they share. Here is Google’s video that shows the new social networking features in the search engine. For privacy purposes these social features will only appear if they are shared with you or if the post is public. Additionally Google will add the image results to your search so you will see both the images Google traditionally has in its index as well as images of your social circle. We will keep an eye on it because the Google search plus your world will definitely begin to effect search engine optimization efforts.

2. Consumer Electronics show

The CES is where the latest and greatest in all things electronic are released. If you don’t know what it is, it is basically what happens when a nerd goes to heaven. I didn’t get to go this year, but I did get to read about these great new gadgets:

• 3D printer – This is just so amazing. Instead of printing on paper it prints on plastic, and the printer bring what is on the computer screen to life. I saw a video and it was able to “print” a flute, a replica of a person, a mannequin head, a toothbrush, and a shoe. Now, I don’t want any of those items per say but the possibilities are endless. I can see this increasingly being used for ecommerce.
• Lenovo Yoga – Both a laptop and a tablet this is one very cool machine.  It is a laptop that can fold back and become a tablet, or fold over and become a stand to watch movies or TV on. The part that I like the best is that it has both the functionality of a tablet with screen based movements as well the laptops processing power and keyboard. It would be so nice not to need a laptop and tablet separately.

3. Are apps more important than search on mobile?

I saw the link to this article on Danny Sullivan’s facebook wall and thought it was worth taking a read. It brought up some valuable points about how people use and search on their mobile devices as compared to how they use apps on their mobile devices. Some main points that I took away from the article are:

• Mobile users may be searching the web less than we think and are instead searching the app store.
• Whereas a mobile website may be browsed momentarily, an app is on the phone and will be opened again and again. This means repeat traffic
• Consumers interacting with apps show more brand favorability and purchase intent.

Articles like this continue to show that the cutting edge of the digital revolution is in mobile, and the playing field will continue to change

Those are the big three stories for the week – have a great weekend!

What to do about the Facebook Timeline

The Facebook Timeline is coming and there is not too much you can do about it. I don’t mean coming in the sense that it will soon be released (it already is), I mean it is coming in the sense that you are soon going to have one – like it or not. Facebook has made it clear that Timelines are the way Facebook is going and these will basically be the story of your life. Are you ready for the story of your life to be displayed? Is your company ready for the story of its existence to be displayed? How will this affect your digital marketing plan? What does this all mean – let’s explore.

The Concerns:
First off many users have been concerned about their privacy, and if the timeline is not updated or edited I can see why. When you look back on the Timeline it is the story of your life: the good, the bad, and the ugly. This can work for or against you. Yes, the posts that Facebook is digging up have always been available – but for someone to look through them they would have had to put in some serious time and effort to keep clicking “More Stories”. They would basically have to be the stalker from the movie “Swimfan”. In this new Timeline format your whole history is laid out in one easy to read format. One stupid comment, ex-girlfriend, and bad decision at a time. Fortunately, Facebook provides a way to edit the Timeline. Just select the post you want to remove from the timeline and click “hide” – it will save you a lot of hassle. The idea is that you are able to share your life, and this is a great tool to do it – just be careful that you only share the parts that you want.

The Possibilities:
The part that is interesting to me as a digital marketer is what companies are going to do with the Timeline when they engage with it. The Timeline is a great way to connect with your customers and let them know the story of your brand. It will put a humanizing face on the company and show that people work at your company. Humanizing your company is an excellent digital marketing technique. Each message and each historic event shows that your company was built by people, and is not some random entity. Additionally (and I think more importantly), you can put a message out and do not necessarily have to sustain a community. Yes, interaction will always be important on Facebook, but with the Timeline you will be able to put out a consistent message without monitoring the network all the time. This is great for smaller companies and/or companies that do not have a full time social media person.

The Timeline, like any new social media event provides opportunities as well as challenges. It is important to recognize that even though these are new updates, they are here to stay. The Timeline is something you are going to have to embrace for your personal life, and your company is going to have to embrace for digital marketing. Learn to use it and make it work for you, then not only will you have a great past, you will also be looking good in the future.

What is Retargeting?

Overview
Retargeting is one of the hottest trends in online marketing right now and at DO we use it to help businesses grow. This online marketing technique combines many of the strengths that online marketing offers and puts them into one package. In the hands of a savvy digital marketer retargeting can:
• Hypertarget customers on a product level
• Keep your business in the customer’s mind after they have left the site
• Target just the customers who have shown interest
• Increase conversion and click-through-rates of your ads

Many companies offer this service such as Google (in Google-speak it is called “remarketing”), Retargeter and Fetchback. All these companies basically do the same thing with slight variations to accomplish the same goal.

What is retargeting?
Retargeting is the practice of serving ads to visitors after they have visited your site. When a visitor comes to a page on your site that you have selected to be part of the retargeting campaign, a cookie is placed on the visitor’s browser. This cookie follows the unique visitor as they browse other sites on the internet. When a visitor who has been “cookied” on your site, visits a site that participates in the retargeting network your participate in, your ad is shown to the visitor.

Why is it powerful?
Retargeting is powerful because it combines many of the strengths from other online marketing techniques and combines them into one. It combines the targeting of search engine marketing with the follow up of email campaigns.

The best way to understand the power of retargeting is with an example. Imagine you have an online clothing store that serves a variety of customers both male and female. In this online clothing store during a five minute period you receive two visitor, neither of which make an immediate purchase. The first visitor is a male who browses the sports t-shirt section of the site and clicks through to browse the Red Sox t shirt section of the site. He likes what he sees, but is just browsing and decides not to make a transaction. The second visitor to your site is a woman who browses the sundresses portion of the site. She is also a fan of what she sees but is at work and doesn’t want to get out her credit card so also no transaction.

Without retargeting the sale is lost, however see the difference when retargeting enters the equation. As the male browses the internet later that week he is served with ads of Red Sox shirts form your store. He sees the ads on his favorite sites, and this constant reminder makes him more comfortable with your brand. Eventually he just decides “I’ll buy it” – it is there and he likes it, he just needed to be reminded.
The female visitor is served with sundress ads for your store as she browses the web. She browses the web for many different reasons and sometimes is in a shopping mood and sometimes is not. Your ad is served up often and catches her when she is in a shopping mood. She remembers that she liked the dress, is now familiar with the brand, and decides to purchase the dress.

As you can see, the constant reminder to these customers of products that they are interested in is a powerful way to drive sales.

About us:
We do digital marketing and love strategy. If you are interested in learning more about a retargeting campaign, please contact us.