35 Powerful Ways to Get Noticed – Small Fuel Marketing
Short, effective tips on how to promote yourself & your organisation. Easier said than done, but brilliant none the less. I reckon we do 24 of them!

Growing Your Business: 5 Tips From the Founder of Blip.tv – Mashable
Five smart business tips we try to embody here at Bluewire.

How to get your emails some inbox attention – Smart Insights
Mark Brownlow discusses the importance of the From line, Subject line and “preheader” (he explains it all), plus external things that can affect your open rate (like frequency of sends or design consistency between your website and email). If you want to make sure your email newsletter follows all his points, talk to us!

6 Additions and Optimizations to Increase Conversions – TutToaster
18-year-old entrepreneur, Mathew Carpenter, impresses with this useful article about improving conversion rates. He suggests (and we agree!) testing as much as possible: different copy, different background colours… everything! Google does it.

The A-Z of conversion rate optimisation - Econsultancy
Yep, 26 things you can do (or consider) when optimising for conversions! Although some of them are more abstract than others, there aren’t any points that wouldn’t make your website better. This is a pretty quality list and we’d love an opportunity to try them all out on one website!

A Beginner’s Guide to Website Copywriting – Web Design Ledger
Eight nice points to help improve your web copywriting. We can always do it for you, but if you’re writing your website’s content yourself, make sure you have a good grasp on these aspects, from writing clearly & concisely to considering multimedia.

Video Interview: How to be a social media change agent
(Thanks @IATV!)

This is an interesting interview about a lot of the things covered in our event last week, Social Media for Business. Josh Bernoff from Forrester Research discusses what social media is and why (and how!) you can use it with your business. He really delves into the fears and uncertainties we understand a lot of people have around this area.

The Key to Creating Remarkable Things – The 99 Percent
The idea of doing our real work first and “reactive” work second (answering emails, getting resources for colleagues etc.) sounds like common-sense, doesn’t it? But is that really how you function day to day? Or do you spend the morning “getting ready” to knuckle down… then suddenly it’s three o’clock and time for a cup of soup? In this article, Mark McGuinness explains why doing it the right way round is so important and gives a few tips on how to make it work.

5 Handy iPhone Apps for Home Improvement – Mashable
Match colours or turn your phone into a working spirit level!

5 Online Tools for Answering Your Small Business Questions – OPEN Forum
Small business owners have millions of questions… here are five places to find useful answers from real people!

Hash: The semiology & phenomenology of hashtaggery – The New Yorker
The way Twitter’s “hash tag” use has changed over time is a pretty interesting study in human communication. If you’re into that kind of thing, this is a fascinating article on how something meant to make your tweet easier to find is now used to add layers of extra meaning to those 140 character quips. It’s changed from an entry to get to your tweet to gateways to more meaning about your tweet.

If you have no idea what a “hash tag” is, then check out this article (and another) and it might just click.

Experts Agree: Gen Y Will Not Grow Out of Social Networking – Mashable
Will we still be Facebooking when we’re 64? Most of the respondents in this study think Gen Ys won’t be giving up on social networks and “ambient broadcasting” anytime soon. What do you think?

Meet the Google Doodlers!

Learn How Google Works: in Gory Detail – PPC Blog
A snazzy infographic that simplifies the Google-machine! It can seem pretty overwhelming to try to understand how Google works, especially if you’ve recently jumped into search engine optimisation yourself, but this diagram breaks everything down from Googlebot crawls to displaying the Adwords next to your search results.

Beyond the Checkin: Where Location-Based Social Networks Should Go Next – Mashable
If you’re a traditional “early-adopter”, you’ve probably got into the location-based trend (think Foursquare, Gowalla etc.). You might have even experienced “checkin fatigue” as you reluctantly get your iPhone out to checkin at your favourite cafe again…

If you’re like me, then you need to see a lot more before you take up these sorts of things! And this is where Yan-David Erlich sees the future of location-based online activities: taking an inherently valued task (eg. taking a photo) and adding a location layer on top (eg. tagging that photo with a location). Check out this article to get a feel for what all the excitement could be about!

80 Ways to Steal Valuable Minutes for Your Work Day – OPEN Forum
Lots of small business and productivity bloggers & consultants share their tips on how to get the most out of your time. There are some great snippets in this article and many of them come down to: be clear about your priorities & be ruthless with your email (and other communications… close Twitter!!)

HOW TO: Better Serve the Social Media Customer – Mashable
An interesting overview of how to use social media to generate marketing touchpoints, increase sales & improve customer service.

Twilight “Choose your own adventure”!

If you’re not a teenage girl, you might be more interested in this retro “choose your own adventure”-style set of videos than actually spending an hour or two watching the latest Twilight movie. Catch up on what the fuss is about. Who knows? You might even be able to name the main characters by the end!

Critique me, Please – 50 Weeks of UX
How well can you handle critique of your work? Joshua Brewer talks about how being open to critique leads to “better communication, greater creativity and more transparency”. So should you practice being critiqued?

List of common misconceptions – Wikipedia
If I told you that Napoleon wasn’t unusually short or that the Great Wall of China can’t actually be seen from space, would you believe me? What about that Thomas Edison didn’t invent the lightbulb? If that’s not blowing your mind yet, check out the Wikipedia article on common misconceptions! Good lunchtime reading for trivia buffs.

10 iPhone Apps for a Better Night’s Sleep – Mashable
You might already sleep with your iPhone, but if you need a plausible excuse, here are 10 apps to help you fall asleep, wake up and monitor everything in between. You can drift off with gentle guided meditation, make sure your alarm doesn’t wake you up from a deep slumber and a whole lot more!

A Showcase of Minimalist Workstations – Webdesigner Depot
I’m not sure if most of these are truly minimalist, but these are some really tidy desks in very pretty rooms! You might get inspired to renovate your office… or maybe just do that End of Financial Year Clean-up you promised yourself.

5 Cool Non-Profit Uses of Location-Based Tech – Mashable
While we’re in the midst of Foursquare “Mayor Battles” at the Bluewire office, some people are using the platform for good. These 5 non-profit companies are using location-based technology for fundraising, inspiring experiences and enhancing university graduation. Getting any ideas?

Fail Whale Cake Makes Sour Situation Sweet

Mashable found this cake from Argentina to help make us all feel better about the Twitter downtime lately. It just makes me hungry (but not for whales!)

• Harvey Norman takes to Twitter in online backflip – Dynamic Business
• 10 Fun Facts You Didn’t Know About Google – Mashable
• 15 Amazing Apps for File Storage in the Cloud – Web.AppStorm
• The greatest defunct web sites and dotcom disasters – CNET UK
• 11 Useful Google Chrome Extensions for Serious SEO Workers – Blog Web Designer
• YouTube Launches New Video Editor Tool – Mashable
• The Vuvuzela By the Numbers [infographic] – Mashable
• Book shelves made from 15,000 pencils – Dyscario

Reminisce on the weekend from a different point of view…

The Telegraph.co.uk puts that margarita under the microscope. See them all…

• “Guitar Hero” Rocks Out on iPhone – Mashable
• Inspirational 50 Twitter Backgrounds Showcase – 1st Webdesigner
• Starbucks Used Social media to Get One Million to Stores in One Day – Mashable
• Is Facebook Getting Bigger Than Google? – Mashable
• The Top 8 Free Online Image Editors – Web.AppStorm
• 5 Gadgets That Will Transform Your Home – Mashable
• Successful Strategies For Selling Ad Space On Low-Traffic Websites – Smashing Magazine
• Top 30 Failed Technology Predictions – Listverse

…and Twitter goes wild!

The Guardian (UK) is showing instant replays of all the World Cup games… as seen on Twitter. In the snapshot above are the trending words just after Germany’s last goal against Australia this weekend. Check it out >>

• 5 Tips to Effectively Promote your Articles – Creative Overflow
• 25 Awesome Google Search Tips and Tricks – AppStorm
• Even Dolphins Love the iPad – Mashable
• 10 things you didn’t know about Twitter – Telegraph.co.uk
• New App Helps You “Game” Foursquare Mayorships – Mashable
• Microsoft’s own “Upgrade Your Browser” promo!
• How We Improved Our Conversion Rate by 72% – dMix

Proof that everyone Googles themselves…

• 3 Online Tools to Backup Your Twitter Account – Madras Geek
• On “Out of office” replies: The Difference Between “Not Here” and “Away” – Pow! Right between the eyes! (Why not take a quick holiday to test out your new techniques?) via @SmashingMag via Fast Company
• How To (Further) Engage Your Readers – Noupe
• 7 Keys to a Successful Design Project – DesignM.ag
• Funny Business and the Lack of Humor in Web Design – Design Shack
• Bizarre Websites On Which You Can Kill Time With Style – Smashing Magazine

Contribute to Mozilla’s new Open Web Fund and get a T-shirt!

Mozilla Drumbeat is a movement to keep the web open and free. This year, Mozilla (makers of Firefox) have committed $1.5 million to Drumbeat projects!

This week’s round-up is tinged with sadness as we say goodbye to our long-standing and well-loved designer, Sarah Hyne.  Sarah’s migrating to new, lush pastures over at MAP Magazine. Sarah had been with Bluewire for two and a half years and in that time she instigated our famous “Weekly Round-up” blog posts.

It’s with a bit of trepedation that I take over these posts! So here it is… the first of Bluewire Media’s Monday Weekly Round-ups.

• Has the iPhone lost its cool? – CNN
• Test drive Internet Explorer 9
• 24 Essential Social Media Resources You May Have Missed – Mashable
• 17 Useful Tips to Extend Your Laptop’s Battery Life – Guiding Tech
• Google Launches Secure Search – Mashable (Use it here: https://www.google.com)
• 25 Crazy Cake Designs – Abduzeedo (graphic design inspiration… really)

Did you miss Google’s Pacman game? Play it here.

Fascinating stuff! Do you think we can fill Sarah’s blogging shoes? Look out for next week’s round-up, now on Mondays.

March has seen the launch of the brand new online face of St Patrick’s College, Shorncliffe. Last year, the school decided they needed to have a website that reflected their values and the high quality of their education. So, Bluewire Media came in to take them through an internet strategy designed to discover the best way to do just this.

The new website’s “go live” date, St Patrick’s Day, was well publicised in the school’s frequent newsletter, so the launch was a busy day — the stats showed over 300 different people went on to check it out on the 17th alone!

The website is designed to provide prospective, current and ex- parents, staff and students information about the school’s facilities, activities, curriculum, enrolment process and community involvement. In particular, the site will showcase recent events at the school. St Patrick’s also plan to begin dispersing their weekly newsletter just through the website and do away with paper copies that get scrunched and lost in the bottom of school bags!

Visit the St Patrick’s College website

See what else Bluewire Media has let loose online in our Web Design Portfolio or call us on 1300 258 394.