March 2010 - Bluewire Media

Posted on Mar 31, 2010 by Sarah McVeigh

Copywriting for the web – Menu Please!

While editing a client’s web copy today I became baffled by just how many words there were!

As a writer, I see my way around a fair few of the things, but today I was reminded of how few of the words on a page we actually read.

People scan to a certain extent when reading books, identifying key words and then automatically linking them together to form meaning – but on the web it’s a whole new story.

I wondered what amount of copy on a website actually gets read, so I ventured into the Googlesphere to investigate.…

Posted on Mar 31, 2010 by Adam Franklin

Are You Guilty of Interruption Marketing?

Interruption marketing is a strategy that is losing impact very quickly. Think about the last time you enjoyed receiving (or even noticing) any of the following:

Cold calls, direct (junk) mail, a TV advert, newspaper ad, radio commercial or billboard….?

Not many of us enjoy these interruptions especially when they occur during dinner, during a TV show, between songs or clog up your mailbox.

Yet strangely, when people put their marketing hat on, its exactly these ‘ideas’ that are usually dreamt up. This behavior seems absurd to me!

Are you guilty?

The Head of Marketing in this parody is…

Video from HubSpot’s YouTube Channel

But there is a solution!

It’s called Inbound Marketing – a term coined by a company that I’ve been following called HubSpot. Inbound Marketing is about being found on Google by people who are actively seeking and actually interested in what you have to say.…

Posted on Mar 29, 2010 by Lesley Hays

The Northside’s best kept secret lets loose online

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!…

Posted on Mar 26, 2010 by Bluewire Media

Weekly round-up

Writing for the web: tips and common mistakes we make — Hongkiat
Starting out organised: website content planning the right way — Smashing Magazine
17 guidelines for better information architecture from 1991 — Volkside
22 useful chart, graph and diagram generators — Hongkiat
Let social media help your SEO — Smart Blogs
How to keep readers coming back to your blog — Social Media Examiner
Tutorial: Using Garageband to create custom iPhone ringtones — CNET Reviews
Social media stats and anecdotes — Pamorama
10 best Twitter practices for brands — Mashable
How to find and remove broken links from your site — Six Revisions
When to respond to negative reviews (and not) — Small Biz Trends

Sneak Peak at a new Photoshop feature?…

Posted on Mar 24, 2010 by Adam Franklin

It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you

The popular saying goes, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. But on the web, I’d argue this doesn’t hold true!

Why? Two reasons.

1. ‘What you know’ is very important. It matters to Google, therefore it matters! Your search engine rankings are based primarily on the content you publish on your website. If you don’t publish what ‘you know’ about XYZ then you won’t appear in search results for XYZ. On the web you are what you publish.

2. “It’s not who you know, but who knows you.” Links are the currency of the web and the ones you want are inbound links.…

Posted on Mar 22, 2010 by Adam Franklin

Social Media Marketing for Events – Putting Bums on Seats!

Conference organisers I speak with often say “I’d love to do more with social media but where do I find the time?”

When I addressed the Australian Conference & Events Bureau (ACEB)I demonstrated that if you set up social media early enough and provide good content, you can let the enthusiasm of the delegates, speakers and exhibitors do a lot of the hard work for you. And this is what helps create the buzz and drive registrations!

Does that sound worth giving social media a go?

As case studies: I’ve chosen the digital marketing conference ad:tech Sydney that uses Twitter and its blog well.…

Posted on Mar 22, 2010 by Sarah Hyne

iPhone app review: CameraBag

Price: $2.49 Get it from iTunes →

So you have an iPhone or an iPod touch and aren’t particularly impressed with the quality of the pictures it takes. Quite frankly, no one is (are you listening, Steve Jobs?). But the folks at Never Center decided that we could at least have fun with our crappy photos by recreating the effects of some of the iconic toy cameras of the past.

Choose from vintage, polaroid, lomo (LC-A, Holga or Fisheye), infrared, and magazine filters and play around with the settings for image size, cropping and border effects.…

Posted on Mar 20, 2010 by Sam Sargent

New website launches from the Summit! What an Event!

In a busy week for Bluewire Media Developers, two projects wrapped up on Wednesday with the new St Patrick’s College and Summit Events Centre websites launching within hours of each other.

The Summit Events Centre is the only high-end, 100% customisable and versatile, fully serviced events and function centre in Brisbane and without a website they weren’t able to show off their world-class venue to the searching community. That’s where Bluewire Media stepped in to help, putting together a website to match their stylish venue and show off the Summit’s classy packages & services.…

Posted on Mar 19, 2010 by Sarah McVeigh