I have recently spent time with prospective clients explaining the 'new vision' of just what a web developer has to be in order to support the successful build and long term deployment of a web site. The question you should be asking your prospective web developer is; "Show me a web site that has been proven to sell product." Most questions that I field from clients these days revolve around articles and content with specific reference to the search engine optimisation associated with … [Read more...] about Today’s lightbulb moment
Marketing
Please THINK before you open that Social Media Account
We are all guilty of the following: When a new social media site opens we all rush to join and then leave our accounts dormant. The next big sin comes from those business people who open a Social Media account and then forget about it. A case in point: Today I went on a search for a particular breed of dog from a particular breeder well known in South Africa a couple of years ago. I managed to find a free site created by this breeder on wordpress.com - i.e a free blog. This site has not … [Read more...] about Please THINK before you open that Social Media Account
Who remembers DMOZ?
I was asked by a client today what the significance of of the Open Directory Project (DMOZ) is. Imagine if you will the early days of the Internet where trusted web sites linked out to other web sites that they trusted. In effect this way the only way that one could surf the Internet and discover more exciting and free content. Then along came DMOZ who established a directory that listed web sites categorised by interest, region and country. DMOZ in one way is a relic of the Internet in … [Read more...] about Who remembers DMOZ?
Career paths uncovered in the palm of student hands
Today’s school leavers are glued to their cell phones, so what better way for Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) to engage with prospective students using a market-leading mobile app. Creating a unique user-friendly experience, the NMMU app creates the path for young adults to embark on their journey. Pieter Swart, Director: Marketing and Corporate Relations said: “We wanted to engage with prospective students using their preferred mode of information seeking and further support … [Read more...] about Career paths uncovered in the palm of student hands
Top 5 tips on how to write a great tagline
A writer of professional press releases, Claudio Milo, has kindly provided these tips: Find out the importance of your brand: A tagline must represent the brand by stating the number one most important thing about the brand—not two or three things. So, figure out what the one thing is the brand wants its customers to know. It's about personality: Personality is really what prospects are looking for. It isn't what the brand does, how it does it—rather, it's about what the brand is about. … [Read more...] about Top 5 tips on how to write a great tagline
Top 8 tips on writing a press release
On MyPE we have a section allowing Port Elizabeth companies and individuals to submit news and press releases. Now there is an art to doing so and we often refer people to local PR companies for assistance. A writer of professional press releases, Claudio Milo, has kindly provided these additional tips: Sell it in the headline: Your headline is the most important - make sure your headline is short, catchy and to the point. Don't bother trying to be clever in your headline, unless it's an … [Read more...] about Top 8 tips on writing a press release
Dumb ways to braai
Marina Sea Salt wants to hear the publics’ dumbest ways to braai. As a spoof of the popular Dumb Ways to Die, Boomtown has created the competition to find SA’s dumbest ways to braai stories. As part of a brand awareness exercise, and launched this week, the competition runs until July 31st, with the dumbest ways to braai to be featured in a Marina Sea Salt ‘ditty’ and possibly as part of its radio advertising, and those whose lyrics will be included in the song will also receive a … [Read more...] about Dumb ways to braai
Rebrand 100 celebrates birth of the Adventure Province
The repositioning of the Eastern Cape as Adventure Province by Boomtown has been recognised globally as one of the most significant rebrand exercises of a destination by REBRAND 100. Once a year, a fresh panel of international business, marketing and design executives is selected to jury the competition, with the goal of showcasing globally the most effective brand transformations. The Eastern Cape has a lot to offer, to many people, so the challenge was defining a single and unique draw … [Read more...] about Rebrand 100 celebrates birth of the Adventure Province
How to submit events for publication on MyPE
You may submit any Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage or Despatch event to the MyPE Events Calendar for free publication - all events are tweeted out via the MyPE Twitter account as well as being published here. In the main menu you will see an 'EVENTS' link, hovering over that will invoke a dropdown - click on the 'Add Your Port Elizabeth Event' link and fill in the form (or scroll down a little bit to submit your event here). These tips will make sure that your event is seen by the most … [Read more...] about How to submit events for publication on MyPE
How NOT to market on Social Networks
Consider this - 140 characters is not enough to enable you contribute meaningfully to any discourse and the walled garden of Facebook is designed to lock you in to that site so that ever more adverts can be served up to you. Here are two activities by Social Media 'gurus' that irk me: Posting links from one Social Networking site to other Social Networking sites - you are just increasing traffic between Social Networks and showing that you don't really know how to decide which social … [Read more...] about How NOT to market on Social Networks
XTALKS hosts digital media mastermind, Mike Bosman
He’s strategic, insightful and a digital media mastermind. He’s Mike Bosman, CEO of One Media Digital, and the Marketers Executive Forum (MXF) is delighted to host him at the next XTALK. Bosman possesses a wealth of knowledge and experience in the advertising and marketing industry both locally and internationally. Well-travelled and educated at some of the world’s finest institutions, Mike has made his mark in several countries having held various high-ranking positions at top marketing and … [Read more...] about XTALKS hosts digital media mastermind, Mike Bosman
Queen Mary 2 Madness
Who would have thought that the historic visit of the Queen Mary 2 to Port Elizabeth would have garnered such interest? Who would have thought that the visit would also be a money spinner for the many restaurants, pubs and shops with a view of the harbour? Writing about the impending visit of the Queen Mary 2 I made the suggestion to ABYC Members as well as readers of MyPE that the deck at the Algoa Bay Yacht Club would be an ideal viewing point for a couple of sundowners to wish the Queen … [Read more...] about Queen Mary 2 Madness
MyPE Newletter – with spelling mistake
I am pretty proud of the new MyPE Newsletter and the Worpress Plugin being used to send you all the juicy goodness. In fact so proud am I that I am also helping out with the translation of the Wysija Wordpress Newsletter Plugin into Afrikaans - my guttural Afrikaans comes from two years in the weermag where the 'donnerse Engelsman' had to learn to apply his hard won Afrikaans Language C Matric Symbol. Read more about the Afrikaans translation project here: Progress on the Afrikaans … [Read more...] about MyPE Newletter – with spelling mistake
Dealing with a hacked web site
Web site owners are just like motorbike owners. Motorbike riders come in two flavours; those who have had an accident and those who are going to have an accident. Web site owners also fall into two categories; those who have been hacked and those who are going to be hacked. Every day, cybercriminals compromise thousands of websites. Hacks are often invisible to users, yet remain harmful to anyone viewing the page - including the site owner. For example, unbeknownst to the site owner, the … [Read more...] about Dealing with a hacked web site
Sell more products online by getting these points right
Time and time again I am asked to help web site owners to sell more products online. They see that MyPE is very 'visible' in the search engines and want me to share my knowledge to help them do the same. Invariably I look at the web site that is performing 'poorly' and find a litany of problems that people are reluctant to fix citing a myriad of objections. In the background I hear them thinking things like; "snake oil", "magic fix", "shortcut, "he is not telling us everything", "too expensive", … [Read more...] about Sell more products online by getting these points right
