All posts by Sammy Dunham

Website Design & Emarketing for a Chianti Finest

By On 09/01/2011 In Blog Permanent Link to Website Design & Emarketing for a Chianti FinestPermalink

Chianti Classico Granchiaia

webSEOlive have long wished to get stuck into designing a clean and informative vineyard/winery website that is designed for the visitor rather than flogging the brand in a passionate but bygone fashion to visitors who are perceived to have nothing better to do than click click click in their attempt to find information or purchase.

Our wish has been answered by being commissioned to design a website for one of Chianti’s finest tipples, the Gaiole located Granchiaia owned by Ken Berry the former architect of Virgin’s financial framework and president of EMI Music.

We’ll be responsible for copywriting and the ongoing search engine optimisation with online marketing of the ecommerce site in addition to its design which we’re relishing commencing. One thing you can be assured of is there will be none of the usual suspects that vineyard & winery websites, particularly Italian based wine sites, employ ubiquitously – particularly the bizarre tradition of applying tacky music!

The Unsocial Fan Follow Flounder of Social Media

By On 08/04/2011 In Blog Permanent Link to The Unsocial Fan Follow Flounder of Social MediaPermalink

Fan Follow Flounder On one of the Facebook accounts we manage we recently received one of those occasional [?pseudo-]outraged comments from a business owner, along the lines of “I like you why don’t you like me (name of the company)?!!”

Whilst sometimes these complaints & comments can be made in a sort of tongue-in-cheek way, they can also be an attempt to get a quick plug for their business, and it can make them look just a little desperate for business, as well as not giving you the greatest faith in their communication skills; why would you trust and do business with a brand that makes online social media into a school playground?  Their comment was seen by nearly 1.5k of one particular location ‘philes’ that could very well have enjoyed the services offered by this company, but now they risk damaging their brand.

Our ethos regarding Twitter and Facebook accounts that we manage is about providing a feed or medium that is inspiring enough for people to return to, READ and click on what is perceived as a valuable link, ideally to share & reTweet; this includes the people and companies that are ‘liked’ and ‘followed’.  We don’t follow or like everyone that follows us for our ‘klout’ value but if we find them interesting and with services and feeds that we believe others will equally enjoy and find useful as well as trustworthy and professional we do!  Those likes and follows are the simplest form of indirect advertising, and the adoption of a free-for-all ethic says masses about the quality of a company’s associations.

One of the biggest pleasures of the online world is that you have the ability to filter and sift, stopping spammy Tweets and Facebook posts that are all about “sell sell sell”.  They’re dull and frankly bore the pants off everyone; why do many people move away from the TV when the ads come on?  People do not tolerate a spammy sales person offline, quickly giving them short thrift, it is amazing that some companies still try and replicate this in the online world.  The value associated with a brand that does nothing but this is diminished, and why would you want to be associated with such in any manner? 

Mass marketing in the online world turns into junk and we all know what happens with that: unliked, unfollowed and binned; I hope companies wake up soon to the power of ‘online association’ too.

Trolling Trolling Trolling, stop those Trolls controlling…Our Guide!

By On 07/11/2011 In Blog Permanent Link to Trolling Trolling Trolling, stop those Trolls controlling…Our Guide!Permalink

It’s funny, I always wanted a troll as a child but had to wait a few decades before my wish came true and one arrived on an Italian location blog that we manage, www.lifeinabruzzo.com.  I’m not sure if being targeted by a troll means that your site or social media is now important enough to matter and be targeted, but I’m going to enjoy the ego rub of such in this case.

What is a Troll?

“Trolling aims to elicit an emotional reaction from those with a hair-trigger on the reply key.   A really subtle troll makes some people lose their minds.” Free Online Dictionary of Computing

Our troll is a very keen fan of the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who seems to secretly employ quite a lot of them if you read global broadsheets newspapers when any sort of article comes out about him! I have to say I find their comments highly entertaining despite their homogenous nature. 

Our troll was outraged by our use of our Life in Abruzzo Facebook page, in particular how we were publishing links to such “left wing”(?) magazines as The Economist without any impartiality or inclusion of positive, “balancing” reviews for Signor B., and demanded justification of their relevance to the location of Abruzzo… 

This got me thinking to the political responsibility of a blog  & Facebook page; does one that works in neither a commercial or official governmental/regional role (instead a personal location travel guide) have a responsibility to only offer up a blandly apolitical commentary, or indeed in the absence of any balancing facts make no comment at all? Regardless of personal feelings of revulsion, we felt that it was in this case the impact of Berlusconi’s political decisions that should sway the content of what is published both on the blog in question and corresponding social media. In the case of Abruzzo, the Italian Emergency Budget will mean the loss of billions of Euros across all regions in Italy.  To one that is still trying desperately to rebuild after the earthquake with 50K still homeless that impact is yet another handicap in its redevelopment & progression.

DNFTT – Do Not Feed The Trolls

It is up to you if you decide to indulge the troll and answer them, or ignore their comments; political ones do generally drop themselves in it relatively quickly by revealing ulterior motives, but it depends if you have the time to let them show their true colours.  Personally my feeling is if it is not going to waste too much time, it is better to fight ignorance with fact.  Trolls are rarely able to offer a constructive or positive reply supporting their point of view hence why they are employed by political parties so often to engage in quick in & out bandit raids…

Try not to delete their comments, as said their true colours appear quickly and it is better that than a  later charge or comment of censorship.

There is a great article on Dailykos about 20 habits of Paid Trolls helping you to recognise them:

6 Premier PBFA Bookfair Websites

By On 05/26/2011 In Blog Permanent Link to 6 Premier PBFA Bookfair WebsitesPermalink

Provincial Booksellers Fair AssociationThe PBFA (Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association) has commissioned webSEOlive to undertake 6 new websites to promote their Premier Bookfairs, which take place throughout the year in the UK & Ireland’s cultural capitals.

Each site will allow the book fair manager to update the site with exhibitors, floor-plans and related news articles, gradually making use of social media to keep the bookworms of the world up to speed.

We’re delighted to be working with the world’s largest trade association for antiquarian and secondhand booksellers as one of our summer projects, and expect the first of the sites to be live ready for the first of their Autumn fairs.

Travel i-app for Abruzzo Italy

By On 04/04/2011 In Blog Permanent Link to Travel i-app for Abruzzo ItalyPermalink

App to Explore AbruzzoFor those who prefer to travel with information at their fingertips, we’re delighted to announce our Abruzzo travel & lifestyle blog, Life in Abruzzo has just been commissioned to create an “i-app” Guide to Exploring Abruzzo’s best kept secrets by Sutro Media, the world’s leading developer of travel apps for all occasions.

78 of 120 OF ALL PAID TRAVEL APPS FEATURED ON THE “WHAT’S HOT” LIST ON iTUNES ARE SUTRO MEDIA APPS.

Sutro Media actively encourages enthusiasts and experts in their fields to share what they know with the world, attracting people from across all mediums, including books, video, online social media and websites to produce guides for use on iPhones, iPads and other Smartphones.

When users download a Sutro Media-created app, they expect (and receive) reliable information and expert content; an opinionated author voice; inter- entry links that create a rich environment for exploring a destination; intelligent search functionality; entertaining multimedia elements such as YouTube videos; the ability to comment directly on an entry and engage with the author or even subject; the facility to share content with friends; sort functionality to order entries by tags (like dining and cost, historical and neighbourhoods, shopping and relative proximity); illustrative slideshows; Google maps with taxi estimates; one-touch phone calling and website access; relevant hours and pricing information, and more.

Pinch this space!

Bygone Times on Paper Online

By On 02/25/2011 In Blog Permanent Link to Bygone Times on Paper OnlinePermalink

Mayfly BooksMayfly Ephemera & Books London, specialists in rare & collectable works on paper from bygone times, including ephemeral items, autographs, manuscripts and antiquarian printed books have commissioned webSEOlive to create and easily updatable ecommerce website.

The new site will feed ABE in addition to Ebay and profile book fair and events that the company will be attending nationwide.

Bi-Lingual Japanese & English Media Website Commission

By On 02/23/2011 In Blog Permanent Link to Bi-Lingual Japanese & English Media Website CommissionPermalink

KYMedia

We’ll be busy soon working on designing and creating a  bi-lingual English & Japanese site for the  London based Media production company KYMedia. 

webSEOlive’s brief is to create a tailored website that showcases the research and production skills of this TV media company which can be easily updated and managed by the client.

Breaking Bread in L’Aquila

By On 03/19/2010 In Blog Permanent Link to Breaking Bread in L’AquilaPermalink

Breaking Bread in L'Aquila‘Breaking Bread in L’Aquila’ is one project that we are really enjoying working on at the moment.  A wonderful Italian trattoria cookbook by Canadian Maria Filice and published by Telos Press, the book will be published to coincide with the first anniversary of the L’Aquila Earthquake on 6th April and net profits will be donated to the restoration fund.

The book is a big and beautiful celebration of love for a person, region and flavours from one of our favourite regions in the world, Abruzzo Italy. The recipes are enticing but simple, the stories that weave them together intriguing the reader to dip further & further into the book, until the light has faded and the coffee is cold…  Love Italian food? Then this is one cookbook that you shouldn’t be without!

Pre-order the book today!

Our awareness and interest in the Abruzzo region of Italy meant we were delighted to be asked to apply our own online skills & local knowledge to the online promotion of this excellent book, hopefully bringing it to as wide an international market as it deserves.

Facebook Trampling on the Travel Forums

By On 03/15/2010 In Blog Permanent Link to Facebook Trampling on the Travel ForumsPermalink

An awful lot of money is spent by individuals & companies, particularly travel/location related businesses, investing in creating small, regional-centric forums, whose sole purpose it sometimes seems is to attract a lot more moaners & groaners rather than makers & shakers…

In a Fickle World Choose the Best

FacebookThe point of such forums is wasted on us at webSEOlive; why spend so much money & energy in custom-building a website/online forum when the tools are out there for you to utilise already?!   A network like Facebook can give you a dynamically increasing world of potential readers, with an established & understood interface and constantly growing fan-base, and doesn’t require you to get bogged down in the confusing world of competitive site optimisation.

Think Global to Snowball

Despite the objections of the many who rashly shy away from the supposed invasiveness & faddishness of such social media, webSEOlive do advise investing time and online marketing spend on such networks. Options such as broadcasting via a Facebook business page are a fine place to start, but really you need to learn to harness the many levels such social sites can provide your business, ensuring the experience your brand offers is shared with many rather than just a select few…

Ignoring a Market the Size of the 3rd Largest Country in the World

We do know businesses within the travel industry that still believe Facebook isn’t for them and there is no point creating a business page; there are many too whose foreign agents admit the same thing.  Ignorance kills business, and if you or the people that represent your business don’t evolve you will not compete.

Here’s the Facebook Coverage of 18-year olds + in quite important markets in March 2010.   As Toby Beresford from Nudge said, the total Facebook market is the equivalent of being the 3rd biggest country in the world; the age group that are creating the most accounts = 55+; can you afford to ignore Facebook any longer?

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The Earth Package

By On 03/07/2010 In Services Permanent Link to The Earth PackagePermalink

Our Earth Website Design and Search Engine Optimisation Package provides the travel & leisure industry with not just the strong bedrock for a good website & design, but provides the ability to  attract and convert both existing & new groups into guests & customers.

The  webSEOlive team will analyse your existing marketing and anticipate new markets by writing & optimising your website copy.   Initial link building will be integrated to help increase page rankings for target key phrases.

The Earth Package

  • Compelling easy to navigate web design
  • Great site architecture & website build
  • Safe, secure & updatable anytime anyplace
  • Easy to follow & develop site analytics
  • Integrated Social Media applications
  • Online Client Identification & Retention Strategy
  • Search engine optimised copywriting
  • Link building to develop page ranking for key phrases
  • No ongoing yearly license fees
  • Full training given

Portfolio Example: Limetreefarm.com

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