Gekkoshot created a stylish online store for Catwalk Kids to allow them to take and process orders online and also showcase their full range of children’s clothing.

www.catwalk-kids.com

I can’t really understand why Facebook doesn’t create an editor that lets users create a super fan page. I can only guess they don’t want to deal with it and prefer their uniform design, which may be boring but at least it is consistent and familiar. Instead, Facebook lets other people get creative and offer an array of Facebook related apps built on the API. In any case, you must know this by now:  A personalized page can drive more attention and probably, more traffic to your brand.

Gekkoshot has just completed our latest customised Facebook Fan page for local business the Auditorium Night Club.

UPDATE: 17th June 2011

Also just finished this new page for local business – Captain cooks

We can create a customised Facebook fan page for your business, for less than you may think.  So get in touch today and really harness the power of Facebook for your business or brand.

While a lot of our readers perhaps already use Twitter, there are still some who don’t (this post is for you).

Genuine organic traffic simply means that people visit your page and check out what you have to offer. Some people choose to pay a fee to a company that will send traffic to their site, and while this will gain hits to your page, there is no guarantee whether or not the traffic is organic or automated bots.

Utilizing smart marketing techniques will help you to gain sales and see a rise in your profit margin.  Smart marketing techniques include using the various social media sites that are found online.

Building your client base with Twitter makes smart business sense.  Not only is Twitter free, it is relatively easy to use.

First off you will have to create an account. Once you have done that, do a search for a company or person that has the same interest as you and follow them.  Quite often they will follow you back.  It is important that you gain some followers, so that when you are ready to send out a message, someone will be on the receiving end of it.

Then you write a message in the top box. This message has to contain only 140 characters or less.  Once you have this written, just click send.  The message will be sent out to all of the people who follow you.  Twitter is a fantastic way to build your client base.

Use Twitter to offer special promotions and discounts to your followers.  This will create interest in what you have to offer.  If you are holding an event, send the details out through Twitter.  You will reach your targeted market quickly and effectively.  You can also answer any questions that a customer may have by sending out a tweet.

No matter what message you want to send out, someone on Twitter will see it.  Remember to choose your words wisely.  Short, informative, interesting tweets about your product or service will help you to gain organic traffic.

Twitter is a great application that will help you gain traffic and potential profit to your small business.

Oh and hey…..most important of all…remember to follow Gekkoshot on Twitter!



As some of you may know, Gekkoshot created the newest version of the website for the Auditorium back in March 2010, since then it has went from strength to strength and we have implemented numerous new features along the way.

However the real credit in this case goes to the team who operate and manage the day to day updates of the site. Robert and Eamon at the Auditorium nightclub are testament to the idea that a website is truly what you make it.

Auditorium PhotoShare

Over the course of the last year we have implemented various new features to the website including, ATV, PhotoShare and online ticket sales, just to name a few.

Gekkoshot also visits the nightclub every month to take images for the PhotoShare application and its proving to be an incredibly popular part of the site.

Many times we have created websites for businesses, both large and small and are disappointed to see them not being used to their full potential. Robert and Eamon at the Auditorium embraced this new medium from the start and are continually pushing for new ideas and features.

Gekkoshot would like to congratulate the Auditorium on this milestone and we look forward to being a part of your continued success.

Check them out www.auditoriumnightclub.com

If you have the right idea, at the right time, the internet offers limitless possibilities.

If you have an idea for an online business, contact us today to get your idea in action!

US online gossip mag TMZ reports:

23-year old Maurice Harary tells TMZ, he made a beeline to his NY apartment as soon as he heard the news of Osama’s death — and started building a website to sell his “OBL is dead” t-shirts.

Maurice claims the site went live at 3:30 am on Monday — and by Tuesday evening, he had already sold around 10,000 units at 12 bucks a pop … meaning dude raked in approximately 120k in less than two days.

Yes, we know … you had the idea first. Stop whining.

If you are like most small business owners you don’t, sometimes it’s a chore just to keep your site updated.  But when you do actually get around to writing that new blog for your site or updating your portfolio or when adding any new content, you really should be maximising its effect.

A little boost..

Posting your new content on your site is great; in fact it’s the very purpose of your site.  The content is then put out on the World Wide Web and if cleverly done, can gain you more traffic and more potential customers.

So, how about giving your content a little boost?  A ‘shot in the arm’ you might say.  You can do this by sharing this new content with your Facebook page, posting a new tweet on Twitter or sharing on an external blog or other social network.

Why share to your social networks anyway?

Well it can help with the SEO (search engine optimization) juice for your website that we all crave.  Basically the more you put your content out there the more likely new people will discover your site.  Also if some people refer your link to others it can help create some nice backlinks for the search engines to discover.

It’s the old adage ‘The more you put out, the more you should receive’.   Also you may just simply gain a few new local customers who found your update on your Facebook page or Twitter.

The easy (and free) way

Usually you would have to manually sign in to each account and copy and paste your link and some intro text.   However there is an easier way to do this and actually share your content with a much wider social landscape.

By using Ping.fm you can update all your blogs and social media networks with one simple update, we use it here at Gekkoshot and it’s a very fast (and free!) way to properly syndicate your content to all your social networks.

For example, we use Ping.fm to update all of these social networks for Gekkoshot –

• Facebook Profile
• Facebook page
• Twitter
• Tumblr blog
• Blogger blog
• Flickr
• Delicious
• Google Buzz
• LinkedIn (coming soon)

That’s only 9 out of a potential 27 social networks that Ping.fm supports and if you take into account their RSS feed and custom URL tools, it quickly turns into an unlimited number of avenues.

Getting started with Ping

Well this very blog post you are reading has been uploaded to this site (Gekkoshot.com) and then ‘Pinged’ to all our social network accounts using Ping.fm

To do this we just sign into our Ping.fm account, go to ‘Your Dashboard’ and enter a message which consists of some brief intro text about this blog post and then of course copy and paste in the page URL after the text.  Click on ‘Ping it!’ and its sent to the 9 social networks I outlined previously.

Really take the time to explore Ping.fm and you’ll find yourself signing up for more social media networks just so you can make Ping work a little harder for you.  Be sure to click the ‘Add More Networks’ link on the Dashboard page to view and……..yes…you guessed it, add more networks!

For more details visit Ping.fm

Happy pinging!

www.golfshopni.com

This project is the baby of local businessman Drew Gregg of Ryan International, and after working with Drew on his own business website we were delighted to work on this new exciting project.

Here we created a vibrant new website along with the logo and branding.  The website has an easy to use CMS (Content management system) in place so it can be easily updated with new information about this event as it progresses.

www.BanbridgeCarShow.com

You really can’t expect to thrive in business today if you don’t understand the importance of branding. There once was a time long ago, before the Internet was even a household word, when this aspect  wasn’t necessarily important to the success of a company. People just sold products and services and, over time, developed a reputation that enabled them to stay in business. However, this sort of approach isn’t applicable today when businesses are fuelled by people’s perceptions of the products and services they buy online.

Your Brand should be Memorable; Otherwise, you Defeat the Whole Purpose of Branding

If you are first trying to understand the concept then, you have to ask the question, “What is a brand?” Whether you are just a start-up business on the Internet or a large corporation, your brand makes you distinct and therefore is an essential component in business planning. Therefore, your brand identity or image hinges on whatever logo or slogan you use when advertising your products or services. It is the distinguishing feature of your business – something that’s easily recognizable, and a component that will hopefully make you stand above the rest of the crowd in the business community.

A Brand Reinforces a Company’s Image

Since you are going to use this brand in your marketing materials and on your business cards, you want to make sure that it’s something that customers and clients can relate to as well as remember. Therefore, choosing a logo and name must be done with careful scrutiny. After all, your brand summarizes up your company and the services or products it supplies.

An Essential Element

Having defined branding helps you see how it is an essential element in business today. Each  brand is unique, and be influential in helping you establish the objectives for your company which will add to its online presence. Not only do business analytics and data knowledge make a company prosperous, branding also plays a major role in your future success as well.

What Makes you Unique?

Therefore, you must go through several steps in creating your company identity or brand. First, you’ll need to look at your competition. Obviously, you want your brand to be distinct from the other brands. Therefore, a brand must be designed so your target demographic can easily relate to what your company offers. It must clue them in on why they should choose you over other similar businesses. What makes you unique? Why should they make an exception in your case?

Branding is the Key to Opening the Door to Profits and Success

When you answer those questions, you will be that much closer to establishing your brand identity. Once you’ve made a decision, you’ll want to make sure that you can follow up on supplying exceptional services or products to your customers. Marketing plays an important part in making these goals a reality. When you create a brand identity that can be easily remembered then, you can easily advertise your business as a first-rate company.

Its 2011, a website doesn’t have to be the only place people can find you online. Sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and of course Facebook give you many other opportunities to present your business or your brand.  In Northern Ireland we tend to us Facebook more to promote business than most other social networks (with a few exceptions).

This guys knows a thing or 2 about Facebook

An Excellent Business Tool

Facebook is an excellent business tool. Not only is it a place where you can talk to friends, it can be utilized for your online business too. Use it to market your services or products, obtain business and keep in contact with your clients and customers.

Sign up for a Business Account

If you don’t have a business account on Facebook, then you need to sign up today. Make sure that you scan all the guidelines for doing business on Facebook and follow them faithfully. You’ll need to incorporate the proper apps so you can include feeds from your other social media accounts too. If you don’t want to share certain parts of your profile with the public, make sure that the information is cached away when setting up your account.

Begin a Fan Page for your Company

Gekkoshot fan page

You can also use Facebook to secure and purchase ads for your business and begin a fan page for your company. Include URL links to your website or, say, provide subscription information for your company’s newsletter. Facebook is also a good place to announce any webinars you will be hosting. Make full use of Facebook. Keep all your information current and develop your reputation as a credible source on the Internet.

Keep your Social Contacts and Pictures Organized

Keep your social lists managed, placing business acquaintances under the “Work” heading and of course your family contacts under the heading tab for “Family.” Obviously, Facebook is about presenting your best face forward, so you’ll want to add images of yourself that enforce your “brand identity.” Just make sure that your business photos are solely seen by  professional contacts and your personal photos are only displayed for family and close friends.

Include your Facebook URL in your Business Emails

A great way to highlight your presence on Facebook too is by informing your clients or potential customers that you can send them product or service updates via a newsletter. Also, you’ll want to acquire a Facebook URL and provide it to people who buy your services or products. Make it doubly easy to find you and correspond with you by including the URL in your emails or with any promotions material that you send to business friends and clients.

Link to Other Social Networking Sites

Facebook is a great business vehicle to share the latest product or service information and to provide subject expertise that can establish your credibility online. Therefore, make sure you don’t overlook adding any links to topical articles on your Facebook wall. In fact, make optimum use of links for all your media contacts. If you write a blog post, for instance, that is in response to a question you may have answered on StumbleUpon, make maximum use out of social networking by linking that post to your Facebook or Twitter accounts as well.

Showcase your Expertise

Add email contacts to your Facebook connections too. Of course, the “Find Friends” feature on Facebook can help you to expand you client base as well. You can tell your customers on Facebook about any special sales or increase your brand recognition and influence by remarking on research related to your product or service too.

Final thoughts, right from the horses mouth

Dont mess with the Zuckerberg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqSroLbXU_c