Make your business perform online! - Choc Chip Multimedia Blog

Major Google update means Social Media is more important than ever

James — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:57 +0000

Earlier this month Google announced an update to its search engine to include personal information from its social network Google+.

This is one of the largest shifts we've ever seen in how Google delivers search results, as it means that sites that are popular within your social circle online will appear higher in your search results.

How to use Facebook to your advantage

James — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:29:11 +0000

It's well-known that social media is now the number one reason people use the internet, and Facebook is by far the largest social media site.

So it's not suprising that there's a lot of buzz around getting your business on Facebook.

But is it right for you?

Facebook is social. Building relationships with your customers is a good thing, but whether Facebook as a medium will work for you depends on your audience and your market.

Clients tell the story

James — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 06:20:25 +0000

Forgive a slightly self-indulgent post but it's the start of the year and it's a good time to be introspective and retrospective.

We were lucky enough to work with some great clients in 2011 but in all the busy-ness not enough of them have made it onto chocchip.com.au as examples of our work.

Featuring the sites in our portfolio is a great way to show the visuals of what we do, but it's harder to show the work that goes into marketing, strategy and the relationship we have with our clients.

Give your site Mojo

James — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:26:52 +0000

Does your website perform the way it should?

Choc Chip has exciting news: Web Mojo is our new SEO and Internet Marketing service that makes your website work as a marketing and sales tool.

Even the best website is only useful if people find and use it. This is even more true as the increase of 'smart' mobile phones gives peope the ability to search wherever they are.

Kids don't understand print magazines

James — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 01:06:39 +0000

Watch this video of a baby trying to use a print magazine like it's an iPad. You can sense how confusing it is that things don't move or zoom when using the classic 'swipe' or 'pinch' movements that we're now used to on these devices.

It's amazing to think about what sort of interface this baby will feel comfortable with when they're 16 years old!

Choc Chip a finalist in business excellence awards

James — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 07:23:04 +0000

Choc Chip was a finalist in two categories of the Geelong Advertiser Business Excellence Awards for 2011.

These awards recognise excellence and achievement in business practices in the Geelong region. Judges accept written submissions and then visit each business when making their decisions

The awards promote excellence and written feedback is given to each entrant to help them improve.

Are you ready for mobile?

James — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:07:30 +0000

New 'smartphone' sales have overtaken desktop PCs this year, meaning millions more people can now view the web on their mobile phone.

Is your website ready?

It's not hard to make your website look and work the same on a mobile device as it does on a desktop PC. Most modern websites can achieve that.

But it makes more sense to offer a different experience to mobile viewers in many cases.

Why? It's not just the screen size that is a factor. Mobile users often have different motivations and are in a different environment.

Your logo is who you are

James — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 23:15:30 +0000

Your logo is the most important part of your business branding.

It needs to convey the right message to your audience.

It needs to tell them something about who you are and show them your core values.

But it doesn't need to sell your products or services for you - that's what the rest of your marketing is for.

Think of some big technology companies out there: Microsoft, Apple, Google, IBM, Dell, Facebook.

Your website should not be fun!

James — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 04:09:57 +0000

"I want people to have fun using our website."

Clients sometimes say this, and the intention is good: they want their customers to be happy with their site.

But unless you are a games company, "having fun" is not what your customers want.

Your website visitors want to book a ticket, find a contact, use a tool or say hello. They don't want to be distracted by coloured icons, special offers, spinning logos, games or other things that aren't directly relevant to completing their task.

To Flash or not to Flash?

James — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 03:47:25 +0000

Flash used to be the de-facto standard for animation on the web, being used for everything from image slideshows to slide-out menus.

But better technologies now exist for these simple animation tasks and we've been recommending against Flash in most situations for quite a while.

Here's three quick reasons:

Book Review: The Tipping Point

James — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 04:43:05 +0000

It's been over ten years since The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell was originally published but a re-reading of it this Summer reminded me of all the reasons I liked it the first time around.

It's not really a business or a marketing book, although it talks about both.

Rather, it's an investigation into why some products and trends take off while many others don't.

Google's own SEO starter guide

James — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 04:30:17 +0000

Google recently released an update to their SEO Start Guide that explains the basics of how to make your website appear well in search engines.

It doesn't spill any dark secrets to automatically rank number one on Google but it explains best practices to allow search engines to index and understand your content.

It also contains the important advice to write primarily for your readers, not search engines, and to put your best foot forward for the people who are ultimately your main consumers - not the GoogleBot.

Geelong Young Professionals 'Local Line-up' event 1st Dec 2010

James — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 22:43:02 +0000

Geelong Young Professionals presents three successful locals sharing their stories and experiences at a networking event on Wed 1st Dec.

Brendan McCartney has recently been appointed Senior Assistant Coach at Essendon Football Club and will focus on leadership, team work and the importance of change.

Kylie Malmberg is a coach and management consultant for Kaleidoscope Solutions that specialises in change and positive psychology.

See it before you see it – Google's new instant preview feature

James — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 04:39:39 +0000

Following hot on the heels of Google Instant a few months ago, Google recently introduced Instant Previews.

Search results now display a preview of each website and highlight the relevant part of the page in a preview box which comes up on the right hand side of each listing.

This lets you see a website preview to get a snapshot of the most relevant content and quickly compare results to pick the result which is right for you.

How a blog can help your business

James — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 01:47:16 +0000

Put another blog on the fire. Part 2 – How a blog can help your business

According to technorati.com, a search engine dedicated to blogs, there are some 71 million blogs worldwide. More than 250,000 are Australian, and 175,000 new blogs are launched each day.

You could be part of the action with a business blog that attracts and engages customers, gives them something new and interesting to read.

Drupal boost module delivers 300x speed increase

James — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 03:48:44 +0000

The Boost module for Drupal increases the speed of your site by creating a static html copy of every page, storing each as a file on your server and delivering it to your visitors when requested.

This method of caching is very fast as it requires almost no interaction with the database to load pages. A normal Drupal page with no caching makes many requests to the database as it loads different parts of the content.

Gratification just got even faster with Google Instant

James — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:09:25 +0000

Just when you thought Google couldn’t get any faster, today in the US Google unveiled a new search feature called Google Instant, which allows your search results to change in real-time as you type.

Google Instant will deliver faster, dynamic results using a predictive search format to help users find what they are looking for.

What is a blog?

Virginia — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 01:26:15 +0000

Put another blog on the fire. Part 1 – What is a blog?

Most of us have heard of blogs, and many of us may even use them to record private musings to share with a select audience of readers who may happen to stumble upon them. But the power of a blog goes beyond just a place to let off steam or to make a point that will change the world – for a business it’s a way to reach out to your customers.

In this short series of articles, we’ll be looking at what blogs are, and then how you can make them work for your business.

Fresh new look to Old Spice creates viral hit

James — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 04:32:05 +0000

I can’t remember the last time I saw Old Spice products on a supermarket or chemist shelf, but that’s because I wasn’t looking out for them. The Old Spice guy has ensured that, like buying a new car and then seeing it everywhere you look, Old Spice products will again start floating across our radars.

Renewing an old brand

Old Spice is an old brand and this marketing campaign is a clever way to update it and make it relevant to a younger market.

SEO is much more than meta keyword tags

James — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:50:05 +0000

There's a common misconception that an important part of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is to place 'Keyword Meta Tags' into the site code.

Comments I get often sound like: 'I want to appear in Google for "Exclusive Widgets" and someone told me that you should put in a meta keyword tag to make that happen'.

The truth is that while we're happy to embed meta keywords in the code if that's what you want, Google and other search engines place no relevance on meta keywords.

New web hosting server offers faster speeds

James — Wed, 19 May 2010 01:28:16 +0000

If you've got your website hosting with Choc Chip, it could be about to get faster and more reliable.

We have recently purchased a new server in Melbourne that we're using for all our new website hosting.

This server is housed in a state-of-the-art datacentre in Port Melbourne complete with security, hardware backups, safety measures and (most importantly, we think) super-fast speed for local users.

Geelong Young Professionals presents Rachael Robertson

James — Wed, 12 May 2010 23:30:23 +0000

Rachael Robertson was leader of the 58th Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition and on June 16th 2010 she will be sharing her adventures with Geelong Young Professionals.

Rachael recounts her experiences with humour and vigour, sharing what it's like to lead a team for a year in the highest, driest coldest and windiest place on earth.

Book Review: Think Less Be More

James — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 00:36:32 +0000

Credibility - who's going to trust you?

James — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 01:58:04 +0000

When creating ecommerce websites for our clients, part of the planning process is to advise on how to get the best outcome from the website.

And in the case of ecommerce, the best outcome is more sales.

One thing that is often overlooked with online sales is that you need to appear credible.

Launch: Vegetarian Celiac Cookbook website

James — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 00:01:43 +0000

I've always wanted to write a book, but I had no idea that my first would be something like this: a cookbook for vegetarian celiacs where all the recipes are gluten-free.