Social Media Strategies for Startups

WeMakeWebsites’ long term friend and social marketing guru Adele Barlow is speaking this Wednesday on social media strategy and management, specifically for startups. This class will cut through the hype to help you understand how you can realistically and effectively use social media to grow your venture. By outlining common best practices and case studies from startups like airbnb to corporate campaigns like Red Bull and Starbucks, this class will cover:

- The best tools available for management, tracking and analytics
- Understanding your cost-per-acquisition and ROI
- The importance of storytelling and putting your users first
- Evaluating average vs. excellent social presence.

It’s sure to be useful and entertaining too. More details here.

WeMakeWebsites launch new website for the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion

We’re pleased to announce the launch of our most recent website for the Centre of Economic and Social Inclusion (or as they’re more commonly known, Inclusion), the UK’s leading not-for-profit company dedicated to tackling disadvantage and promoting social inclusion in the labour market.

Its one of our biggest sites yet and includes all sorts of good stuff, like event bookings, pay wall access, subscriber content and more.

To find out more about the project, checkout our portfolio.

Visit the new site here: www.cesi.org.uk

Eating Mince Pies at the Mince Pie Project launch at Divertimenti

On Monday we attended the launch of the Mince Pie Project at Divertimenti in Kensington, opposite the V&A.

Celebrity chefs who have made mince pies for the auction include Anna Hansen (Modern Pantry), Bruno Loubet, Fergus Henderson (St John’s), Michel Roux Jr and Raymond Blanc, to name a few, the full list is here.

The auction is in support of Action Against Hunger and the Jamie Oliver Foundation.

There’s some more info and photos from the Mince Pie Project launch here.

The auction starts on Friday and you can follow the leader board here.

The Mince Pie Project – In Aid Of Action Against Hunger

WeMakeWebsites are proud to be sponsoring The Mince Pie Project - a charity mince pie auction in support of Action Against Hunger and The Jamie Oliver Foundation. We designed the identity and website for the project, which is launching soon at www.themincepieproject.com

Here’s the press release…

Rolling pins are at the ready in Michelin-starred kitchens up and down the country, as the UK’s top chefs gear up for The Mince Pie Project in support of Action Against Hunger and The Jamie Oliver Foundation. So far, over twenty chefs, many of whom are household names, are lined up to participate, including Raymond Blanc, Michel Roux Jr and Jeremy Lee.

This brand new Christmas fundraising initiative is the creation of entrepreneur and keen foodie, Peter Butler. It will take the form of an online auction of mince pies – baked by the best chefs in the land – with each chef’s batch of 50 going to the highest bidder. The auction takes place at www.themincepieproject.com from the 9th to the 16th of December. Bidders can get regular updates and follow a live leader board throughout the auction week. All the proceeds will be donated to Action Against Hunger and The Jamie Oliver Foundation.

“These chefs may usually compete with each other for Michelin stars and critical acclaim, but The Mince Project has got them competing over whose mince pies will raise the most money,” says Peter Butler. “Will it be Jeremy Lee’s famously buttery pastry or Claude Bosi’s boozy mincemeat? The public will decide.”

Peter is working closely with Action Against Hunger and The Jamie Oliver Foundation on the project, and with a number of corporate partners including We Make Websites (Web Design) and Mindmatters (Web Development). Peter has been involved in the food industry since the tender age of 15 when got a job as a part-time commis chef and completed a stage at Le Manoir Aux Quat’ Saisons. Prior to starting The Mince Pie Project, he worked at The Boston Consulting Group which he joined after graduating from Cambridge in 2009.

Action Against Hunger - ACF International is a non-governmental, non-profit, non-religious organisation with thirty years of expertise in emergency situations of conflict, natural disaster and chronic food insecurity. It is recognised as one of the leading organisations in the fight against malnutrition. Every year, Action Against Hunger helps nearly five million people in over 40 countries across the world.

The Jamie Oliver Foundation - The Jamie Oliver Foundation is a registered charity whose mission is to empower, educate and engage as many people as possible to love and enjoy good food. The charity funds the Fifteen restaurant group’s Apprentice Programme, which takes on unemployed and under-qualified young people and trains them to become qualified chefs. Since 2002, they’ve seen 95 apprentices graduate and go onto become professional chefs.

For more information please visit:
The Mince Pie Project on Twitter @mincepieproject

WeMakeWebsites launch the new Postlethwaite website

We’re pleased to announce the launch of our latest website for Postlethwaite - a London-based law firm specialising in employee share schemes.

Find out more about the site in our portfolio or check out the live site at www.postlethwaiteco.com

Announcing Advark - Simple Pay Per Click Advertising

Say hello to our latest project, Advark.

Advark is an online service that allows you to generate more revenue on your e-commerce site with simple pay per click advertising.

It makes managing pay-per-click advertising on your online shop a breeze. Simply sign-up, tell us the web address of your online shop and then Advark will generate your ads automatically. You then pick the ones you want, set a monthly advertising budget and click ‘publish’. Easy.

We’ll be launching it soon but in the mean time, you can follow our blog on pay per click advertising for help generating traffic and revenue for your website.

WeMakeWebsites launch new Benoy website

After months of planning, design, development and testing, we’ve finally launched the new company website for Benoy - a leading international architecture firm responsible for such projects as Ferrari World Abu Dhabi and Westfield, London.

We’re thrilled to see the site up and running and are really pleased with the end result - the perfect home to showcase their amazing architecture, masterplanning, interior and graphic design work.

Thanks to the guys over at Benoy for all their hard work in getting to the launch!

Read more about the project in our portfolio.

Check out the site here: www.benoy.com

WeMakeWebsites launch new Campbell North website

We’re pleased to announce the launch of a new site for West-London based recruitment firm, Campbell North.

Campbell North are a specialist financial markets head hunting firm delivering top percentile front office technologists, researchers and trading personnel to prestigious hedge funds, proprietary trading firms and select investment banks. The new site provides them with job listings, blog and market overviews as well as a completely refreshed look-and-feel that strongly differentiates them from their competitors.

Check out the site here: www.campbellnorth.co.uk

Where have we been?

We’ve been quite quiet for the last couple of months, but here is a quick summary of what we’re working on:

• At the start of November we’ll be rolling out the new website for the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion, which includes event booking and online paywall functionality, as well as membership sign up and integration with their in-house systems.
• We’re working on an exciting new project with Cloud & Compass to distribute real time content on to the London underground.
• There’s a bit of information about our new website startup incubation service (startups.wemakewebsites.com) online now, more details of the products we’re working on to come.
• I’ll be answering startup/web questions at the next Escape The City event at the Adams St Club. If you attend you get free evening membership at the club. More info here: http://bit.ly/oTh56H

Over & out.

Website mistakes: the 10 to avoid in the publishing industry

Article first published on TheBookseller.com

The web is a primary marketing channel for almost every industry on the planet, and publishing is no exception. One of the first things anyone will do before engaging with a business is check out its website. A bad impression can result in a lost business opportunity. We’ve helped build compelling websites for companies in a variety of industries and have lately been working in the publishing sector. Here are our thoughts on common mistakes that many publishing industry websites make and how to avoid them.

1. Failing to engage and direct visitors

The “back” button is never far away so your website needs to engage visitors instantly. This means making sure the purpose of your website is immediately clear. You should provide at least one clear call to action to draw visitors into the site, such as “Take a look at our author list” or “View our latest releases”.

Publishing websites generally have more than one audience to deal with. A literary agent, for example, may need to appeal to new authors who are looking for representation, while also engaging visitors who are looking for news or information about a particular author or publication. The home­page of a site like this should offer a clear path for both audiences so that finding the information they need is quick and painless—­otherwise they are likely to give up in frustration.

Your site structure should be built around your key audiences and what they might be looking for. A common mistake here is to build the site navigation around an internal company structure—don’t do this. Instead, think about menu options that will immediately resonate with the desired audience, for example, “Submissions”, “Our Authors”, “Our Titles”, “Working for Us”. Some websites even have the option to select from a list of what type of visitor you are, for example, “bookseller”, “journalist” or “publisher”.

2. Bad or dated design

While not unique to the publishing industry, a lack of design consideration is common among the publishing websites we’ve seen. Failing to align the design of your website with your organisation’s services can give the wrong impression to visitors, causing them to look elsewhere and can potentially damage the reputation of your firm.

The look and feel of your website should be tailored to your desired audience. If you are a children’s book publisher, the aesthetic of your website would more likely be different to that of a niche ­science fiction publisher. The overall design of the site should also reflect the size and capabilities of your organisation. The look and feel of a boutique publisher should be distinct from that of a large corporate publishing house.
Employ a professional designer who understands web usability and has a strong portfolio that contains examples of the kind of work that would suit your organisation. A good designer will work closely with you to understand your business, your objectives and your target audience.

3. No ‘out now’ or ‘recently published’ list

A significant number of visitors will be searching for new publications having read about them on other marketing channels, so you want to make this easy for them. An up-to-date launch list will also serve to show prospective authors and clients that you are active and have presence, particularly if the new publications have received significant publicity. The front page of your website could feature a scrolling list of book covers or a quick list of recently published work.

4. No blog or social media integration

The publishing industry has a savvy social media community so it makes sense to make your website appeal to this audience. Prestige is an important attribute for many firms in the publishing sector and adding a blog enables you to distribute news and opinion easily, giving credit to your voice by demonstrating expertise.

Blogging is also good for your search engine ranking for two reasons. First, the single biggest determinant of search engine ranking is how many other websites link to your site and having a blog with engaging content will encourage others to link to you. More links to your site will boost your ranking significantly, especially if they come from high- profile sites or those based in the same industry. Second, fresh content is appealing to search engines and the content itself will feature many relevant keywords, which will increase your ranking.

Integration with Twitter and Facebook makes it easier for visitors to share content on your site, which will also boost traffic. Having a company Twitter account (or even one per employee) can generate publicity, especially if you are actively engaging with other Twitter users. The viral nature of the Twitter platform means that getting into the habit of interacting with others in your industry is an easy and fun way to quickly spread your brand further online.

That said, a stale blog, Twitter feed or Facebook page can do more harm than good, so ensure you have a member of the team who is willing to maintain this presence by spending at least an hour a week on it.

5. No Content Management System

In the Nineties and early Noughties, it was common to have a webmaster that would update content on the website on behalf of others. Today, members of staff should be able to log on to your website and update it as easily as they can a Facebook account. Modern websites are built on content management systems (CMS) that provide this type of administrative access and make it straightforward to update content by providing an easy to use interface for updating content.

A good CMS will also perform functions such as resizing images automatically to fit the site and creating short and search engine-friendly URLs. It can also automatically generate lists of content such as a “recently published” section as suggested above.

More importantly, a CMS can reduce the cost of updating content by cutting out the need for outside assistance and reducing staff time required for updates. At the same time they improve agility by enabling changes to website content to be made instantly. It’s surprising, but many firms still do not have this capability—it should be standard on any new website.

6. Absent, unintuitive or unsearchable lists of publications and authors

It is likely that within your website’s audience there will be a large number of visitors who are primarily on your site to find information about a particular book or author. Make this a straightforward task by providing an easy to navigate list of books and authors with search, sort and filter options—the larger the list of titles and authors, the more important these navigation tools are.

As well as providing a vital resource for visitors hunting specific information, these lists are also an important source of social proof and can reflect the prestige of a firm if used effectively.

7. No ‘Buy’ button

People are comfotrable buying anything online nowadays, so capitalise on this by including Amazon affiliate links (or similar) to buy publications. This is good for two reasons. First, it is useful from a visitor’s perspective, as, after finding out more about a book, they may want to purchase it and providing a link for this will save them time and could even encourage an impulse sale. Second, if you have substantial traffic, affiliate links can provide a new revenue stream for relatively little effort.

8. Not including reviews or awards

Including reviews, awards or any kind of critical acclaim for the titles and authors on your website is a great way to boost your online profile. It is good for search engine optimisation and will also serve to verify your service to potential clients.

Similarly, positive press about your authors should also be recorded in the news or blog section on your site, with the latest or most important stories promoted on the homepage.

9. No photography

In an industry that deals in the written word, it might seem that text is all you need on your site. But photography is one of the best ways to engage visitors as it gives life to a page, even if the important message is in the text.

Professional photography of staff members, authors and book covers are a must as visitor expectations of online content increase.

10. Ignoring the statistics

There are many free analytics tools that can tell you how your visitors are finding and using your website. Google Analytics is one of these and can be installed on an existing site with minimal effort. It will show you what pages are popular, how long visitors stay and can highlight behaviour patterns on the site. These metrics will help you to identify what works well on your website and what doesn’t and should be the driving force behind how your site evolves over time. For example, examining the log of what has been typed into the search box on your site will help you identify what information visitors are struggling to find and, hence, what needs to be made more prominent on your site navigation.