Prodo's Blog

We love it when a plan comes together! Three years ago we set out our new plans for growth and we're really proud to say that even with the challenging economic environment, everyone's hardwork and commitment has meant that they are all coming together nicely. The team is growing and we're really happy to welcome another 6 new members this month, with a further 10 joining us over the next few months………….as a result of which we have just started the expansion into our lovely big barn next door. We're really excited at the moment as it involves lots of looking at plans, reviewing mood boards and choosing furniture - watch this space and we'll share some of these with you - it's going to be amazing!

2011 saw the addition of a number of great new client wins for Prodo Digital including New York Times, (who have just commissioned their 3rd new project with us), Rubik's who commissioned us to develop a brand new game for iphone/ipad and Brookson the UK's most advanced accountancy firm to name just a few! We've just entered our 15th year as Cheshire's premier digital marketing agency, we believe we continue to grow because of the most important thing of all which is the continued delight of our customers so thank you to everyone and here's to 2012!

Google today has added a new function to its search results named "search, plus your world". This new feature gives a higher indication that Google are going to integrate Google Plus into more of its services and will be pushing the social engine more and more.

Although not available to everyone right now, this feature will roll out over the next few days to users signed into their account using http://www.google.com.

Some of the key areas discovered in this new feature are as follows;

• Users Profiles in drop down search bar
• Personalised more relevant to your history
• Increased links to prominent Google Plus user profiles
• Linked profiles related to search tags (For example search for music may display artists using Google plus)
• SSL security to all signed in users

For more information about the features see the video below;

Eye Tracking has become an important part in modern technology as a tool to identify how customers are genuinely engaging with a variety of devices and how much attention certain types of media effect their use.

The video below shows how the Tobii Eye Tracking technology was used in conjunction with the Windows 8 operating system to track the users gaze as an input device for navigating the system.

Earlier today it became apparent that Facebook are introducing private messaging to Facebook Pages. This is a significant step into the way Page managers can communicate with their audience on a one to one basis.

Whilst Facebook is predominantly used as a marketing tool by brands to gain awareness of their product, the introduction of private messaging allows greater use of customer service for both users of the product and brands themselves.

Currently only users of Facebook can instigate the conversation with pages, but it does open up a whole new section to Facebook's usability as a page owner to utilise this tool for better customer service.

Image courtesy of TheNextWeb

So Google Panda, a good or a bad thing?

For those wondering what Google Panda is, it is the name given to the series of updates in how Google interprets search algorithms. The tweak improves the rating of high quality websites, and subsequently lowers the rating of low quality content websites.

Google's Panda updates are normally minor enough to only affect a small percentage of searches. This time however we are expected to see such significant changes that may affect a much larger proportion of online searches made through the giant search engine. See this as a warning from Google that if you don't improve on the content of your site now, then you may see your site start to slowly fall in the ranks.

"Content farms" which are sites that have copied or useless information are a target for Panda and would therefore be lowered in the rankings. The bad point is some original and previously high ranking sites are falling into this category and subsequently have huge effects on their visitors and profits. To avoid the pitfalls of the Panda update, sites will have to build on original content and remove low quality links.

Google will index your site with better rankings for original content and high quality links.

Google, "We strongly encourage you to pay very close attention to the 'Quality Guidelines', which outline some of the illicit practices that may lead to a site being removed entirely from the Google index or otherwise impacted by an algorithmic or manual spam action."

The quality guidelines listed by Google are not anything new, they are however more stringent on the rules and may not list websites at all for not obeying the rules. Cloaking is becoming a common issue; this is where you deceive visitors by presenting different content to search engines than to visitors.

Participation of link schemes is another guideline. Defiantly avoid links to web spammers and "bad neighbourhoods". The use of unauthorized computer programs which submit pages, check rankings etc. will also suffer from a lower ranking. There are far more ways to improve rankings, such as, if people + 1 content using Google+1 or bookmark the site, then this will inform Google that the content is interesting and will help with rankings. On the other hand if many people block the site then this could have adverse effects on the site.

Google is certainly cracking down on spamming sites with the Panda updates. When Google receives a website found of wrongdoing their guidelines they scan through the website and will recognize and block future spam attacks. However these algorithms are having a knock on effect, as predicted, with sites that have previously appeared at high rankings in Google.

It would appear that Panda is trying to take a step in the right direction by trying to stop spammers, however as the algorithms they use do not apply to all sites they are taking some high ranking sites with them such as the Register's hardware site RegHardware, Computer Weekly and PC Advisor to name a few. So to answer the question we will just have to wait for the new release to see what this offers.

It was two months ago that we first noticed some subtle changes to Twitters design, and today users have seen a wide rollout pushed onto their pages. '#LetsFly' the Twitter hashtag being pushed by Twitter themselves to promote these changes is currently taken Twitter Streams by storm worldwide.

The changes from Twitter have redeveloped not only the way the pages look to the user, but also the way they interact. With a new navigation bar, new design layouts and a new app for mobile devices, this is the biggest change Twitter has seen in it's five year history.

The video from Twitter below showcases these changes and how the new functions can help you make the most out of the changes. For more information keep an eye out for our blog, or check out the official Twitter page for #letsfly at http://fly.twitter.com

We're delighted to annouce two worthy winners at the Social Buzz Awards last night. Both Salons Direct and Walker Smith Way approached Prodo Digital to help manage their social media accounts and last night saw them both take home the awards for the categories they were nominated in.

The Social Buzz Awards is a ceremony that takes place in London at the Wembley stadium organised by The Drum, a media and marketing publication based in the UK.

The Awards showcase and celebrate effective social media campaigns and strategies to recognise industry leaders. Judged by a panel of individuals that have extensive knowledge within the field of social media from both an agency and client side, we are very pleased to have picked up the following awards;

Salons Direct - Best B2B Sector Social Media Strategy

Walker Smith Way - Best Professional Sector Social Media Strategy

"It's time to unify, simplify and say goodbye to the navigation bar"

For any of you that follow Google's Blog you may have come across information about changes being made to the search engines interface recently. These changes look remotely similar to the YouTube page design that some users have been receiving and tie in closely with the usability of its Google Plus service.

To see how these changes may affect the way you change the way you navigate Google, take a look at this short video posted below.

Here at Prodo we feel Google are trying their best to achieve a platform for the internet, where everything is just one click away.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on these changes.

We came across a great case study last week about how Eye Tracking helped one company in Toronto create a study into how users viewed search results on Google Places. Using the Tobii eye tracking machine they used eye tracking to determine the gaze of the user and where they clicked to develop a white paper displaying information about which ads grabbed higher attention from the users.

From the study they were able to determine that as well as the importance of displaying as number one in search results, certain social signs were also having an affect on where users clicked within the results.

The study can be seen here:
http://results.mediative.ca/Mediative_White-Paper-Eye-Tracking-and-Click-Mapping-Google-Places.html

At Prodo Digital we have used Eye Tracking in many ways to make sure we get the best out of anything displayed to a user. Eye Tracking allows us to observe thought processes not recognised by the user and consequently are not vocalised, giving you an even deeper insight into your users. The results are objective, unbiased and quantifiable.

To learn more about our Eye Tracking Services, and how they can be benificial to you click here

The Countess of Chester approached Prodo Digital to create their main Trust website following the completion of the Chester Breast Screening site. The COCH's new website needed to be accessible to all, ensuring that it was easy for the general public to navigate around and find the information which they required. The Trust was also keen to ensure the website was AA compliant in line with NHS Guidelines.

All objectives were initially met at design stage, the layout created was clean and simplistic, directing visitors to one of two areas of the website 'Corporate' and 'Patients, Visitors and Public'. Each area was given their own landing page with relevant sections highlighted including any video content.

The wealth of content has been uniformly displayed and each page has the ability to add links, imagery and select from a number of templates making it easy to administer and manage. With various permission levels included, the COCH can now control who has publishing rights and successfully manage all content published to their site.

The end result…a very happy client!