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News from Lingo Design

Feed A Slice Of Our Own Advice.

May 15th, 2012
Edited by: LingoLiz

a selection of hand-written digital marketing words, or jargon.

Writing new content can sometimes feel like a chore; another item on a business owners’ long list of ‘to-do’s.

But the advice remains the same; neglect your website copy at your peril!

Sites without fresh content are less likely to be delivered by search engines than those with new info. And let’s face it, your customers will be turned off if things feel ‘stale’.

So how about a tip to help inspire you with some fresh writing?!

When advising customers on text-composing techniques I often say “Try to imagine your ideal customer; sat at the other end of the internet, staring at the screen as you are typing. What would you say? What piece of advice would you give them and how would you start explaining that you are the expert at what you do?”

By simply and honestly providing quality information that your customers are looking for, (often this is knowledge you might take for granted) in an understandable tone, you will score your online goals; to engage with your audience!

So, in taking a slice of my own advice, I’ve just updated our site with a new page on Digital Marketing, in particular explaining that we offer ‘social media strategy and planning’. The page features an embedded list of the latest ‘on topic’ news post (such as this one), giving advice on how we can help companies make the most out of the various tools and trends.

Just as in my post explaining why a good website should never be ‘finished’   this page will require ongoing development; using fresh content, and most of all, referring to the tip above; giving more good, free advice!

Remember, if you need help, just get in touch. We don’t bite, and we’re passionate about not bamboozling you with jargon. It’s why we’re here and why we’re called Lingo.


Feed Team expedition to Internet World #iwexpo

April 25th, 2012
Edited by: vicki

On Tuesday team Lingo donned its comfiest shoes, picked up an essential supply of Knights Bakery cheese straws and caught the train from Downham Market. Our mission: to attend Internet World, Europe’s largest digital business expo.

Lingo team outside Internet World Earl's CourtHeld annually at London’s Earl’s Court, the expo is split into six different ‘worlds’; Digital Marketing World, Cloud & Hosting World, Social Media World, Mobile World, eCommerce World and Content Management World. In other words, pretty much everything you could ever want to know about conducting business online.

We asked questions, we pushed buttons, we watched software demo’s, we ooohed and aaahed, we pilfered giveaways, we forgot to eat. (Now you see why those cheese straws were so important.)

Why? So we can be sure our clients here in Norfolk are getting the most up-to-date digital marketing advice.

We got particularly excited about the Augmented Reality demo, so excited in fact, that we missed our train home again.

Same time next year?

(Pictured from L to R are Steve Gore Rowe, Jenn Clark and newest team member Vicki Arnst, who joined Lingo this week. Photo by LingoLiz)


Feed Lingo are looking….

April 4th, 2012
Edited by: LingoLiz

…for the right person or people to join their friendly design studio in Downham Market…we want to hear from you if you are;

* experienced in graphic design, web development and/or sales and project management
* passionate about creativity
* great with customers
* full of initiative

Salary and hours will depend on experience.

To tell us why you’re the right person email us your cv.


Feed Social Media Demographics…InfoGraphic

April 2nd, 2012
Edited by: LingoLiz

A Case Study in Social Media Demographics

Whether you love or hate info graphics, quite often, as long as you take them with a pinch of salt, they can be a useful tool to demonstrate complex statistics.

The every changing social media sphere poses an ever lasting subject for info graphic designers…this one strikes a chord with us, as the design is simple and the topic is relevant, even if the data will be out of date as quickly as you can take it in…

 

Via: Online MBA Resource

 


Feed Lifestyles Prepares to Launch…

March 28th, 2012
Edited by: steve

Lifestyles Logo

After lots of hard work by Lingo and the Lifestyles Team, the 2012 website is complete and will go live later today!

As I write this Liz is traveling to Lifestyles HQ in Hunstanton to officially launch the website and this year’s event planning and preparations.

More details about activities, music and camping will be added to the website and Facebook page as the big weekend gets closer.

www.lifestylesfestival.co.uk


Feed Nice weather for Solar panels…

March 23rd, 2012
Edited by: LingoLiz

Screenshot of Buy Wind and Solar homepage

The spring sun is finally shining, which, to the customers of BuyWind&Solar.co.uk means they’re likely to be generating their own free power!

Working with Jim and Sarah at Electra-mek, (the parent company) was enlightening for Lingo as we got to know about the ins and outs of PhotoVoltaic power generation and the new flexible solar panels for sale through their ecommerce platform.

As usual, the set up of the site involved careful consultation, software training and technical support, as the categories, images and product descriptions were uploaded by the web-team.

Why not take a look… www.buywindandsolar.co.uk


Feed LOVE CONTENT

February 14th, 2012
Edited by: LingoLiz

This Valentines day, Lingo are sending our not-so-secretive admission of admiration to the entity of content. We love content so much, we’re almost lost for words (now, that would be ironic!) and we wanted to show our affection.

We just can’t get enough of the ‘blah-blah’ the ‘yadda yadda’, and even the ‘rhubarb rhubarb’! Quite simply put, those websites with well written wording out-perform their content-light competitors time and time again.

Fact friendly headlines and properly put together paragraphs hold the browsers gaze on the page long after the graphics have grabbed their attention. Text delivers the narrative of the company and gets into the visitors brain, and Search Engines would be no-where without it.

The demand for increased copy is often a sticking point for the design process, with many website owners struggling to get the good stuff created.  We often help with copy writing and we love it, but we need somewhere to start. Some basic facts, a bullet list here and there, something to go on. You don’t need to be a Bard to get something written for your webpage, you just need to start writing.

Here’s a few of my favourite questions to help bring forth content…

What makes you different?

Where did it all begin?

Why do you do things your way?

What can you tell me that will help me decide?

If you’re still stuck – another good tip is to make a note of the phrases you use time and time again to describe what you do and how you do it – when on the phone to a new customer, when explaining what you do to a new acquaintance… jot these commonly used phrases down. It’s likely they will contain some of your Target Keywords too.

We’re aiming for unique, informative, interesting, useful but most importantly, adequate. Nothing is harder to work on than ‘nothing’!

Like I said; we love content. The more you give us the more we can do with it. There really should be no limit to what you can give! Just like LOVE.

Happy Valentines Day y’all. 

 

 

 


Feed As Fresh As A Daisy!

February 10th, 2012
Edited by: LingoLiz

Every now and again, it’s good to have a website update to keep things feeling fresh. Sites which stay the same year in year out lose visitors and feel dated and neglected, as well as performing poorer in search engines as they age.

LingoLiz's desk covered in bouquets of flowers from

Elizabeth’s florist in Downham Market was due for a bit of a bit of a ‘spruce up’, and owner Kate Shipp decided she also wanted to be able to update her site herself in the future, to keep it feeling as fresh as her flowers. There’s lots of ways to achieve this; varying in complexity from a fully editable site with a CMS through to WordPress site and down to just designating a few selected areas of the site for updating such as ‘news’, ‘next event’s or ‘special offers’.

It didn’t take long to help Kate go through the options, and decide that the best solution for her business was to create a new facebook business page and for us to integrate the activity feed from facebook into to the new homepage, meaning that she could upload new pictures of flowers to facebook which would then appear on the site.

The site had a general graphic design update including a new colour scheme, new header font to match the shop signage, a new enquiry from and photography of  beautiful hand-tied bouquets, which we did here at Lingo. We love taking photos, especially when the subject matter decorates the desks as nicely as these roses and gerberas did! View the site here.


Feed Biscuit thief…

February 10th, 2012
Edited by: LingoLiz

The office is under attack! If you spot a custard cream criminal, a bourbon bandit or a hobnob-nobbler… let us know…

REWARD (not) OFFERED

 


Feed Explaining some Ugly Lingo…

February 7th, 2012
Edited by: LingoLiz

I watched Panorama last night with interest; as one of the many popular internet jargon terms was explained and moreover, one of the faces of the often anonymous participants of ‘Trolling’ was exposed.

Trolls (read wikipedia’s explanation or NetLingo’s explanation)  have been about for a while, but in this age of ‘over sharing’ [?] especially amongst younger internet users, and businesses on social media, Trolls are not only more active but also intend to be more damaging.

As part of your social media strategy, it’s worth remembering that as well as sifting through the comments to reduce SPAM, you can also need to have some virtual armour in place for negative comments, written purely to provoke reaction; which is the same as I would recommend to any person or any business, young or old at the receiving end of bullying tactics. Just remember to say (to yourself) the old addage “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me”.

There’s no point in trying to reason with an Internet Bully; just take a look at the Panorama episode to see the interviewer have a good go. It’s clear that the internet would be a lot better off without these uglies, but it’s important to know what to do if you’re confronted by one. Ignore it. 

This post was written and inspired for SID 2012 : Safer Internet Day 2012


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