Well….being the newbie to Selesti, I was told I could add “anything” to our blog.

So, I decided for my first post I would pay a tribute to the fantastic and inspirational marketing campaign that is ‘Compare the Meerkat’. It has been my favourite online and offline campaign since it first started in January 2009 and I would like to dock my cap to the clever people responsible for marketing Compare the Market for coming up with this excellent campaign!

Since the beginning of 2009, the campaign has graced our TV screens with the amazing adventures of Aleksandr Orlov. The most recent being ‘The Battle of Fearlessness‘!

If you haven’t already done so - Compare the Meerkat now!

There are several Meerkat blooper videos out there, however, this one never fails to brighten up my day! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Simples.

We saw this great tribute to the best selection of film-dedicated websites and online marketing for movies to coincide with gong-season for the flicks.

Our favourites from the list include the Transformers site - if you’re going for fully immersive Flash geekery then this is a great example with full screen-size bots walking across the screen. The interactive element of getting fans to submit artwork is great too, especially given the subject matter and target audience of the site.

Transformers website with HUGE animated bots

For the interactivity, 3D functionality and design, Halloween 2 boasts a frighteningly menacing look and feel, as well as holding a lot of grown up information which film buffs will lap up including production notes and the like.

3D, Interactive & packed with info = great website

Last but not least, It’s also a great adventure exploring the Alice in Wonderland site, with menus which tumble off the screen and loads of video and resources to get at. Another example of a big Flash animation budget spent wisely.

Creative use of flash...

So, you may think it’s not for you and of no benefit to your business, but over and over again research is proving the benefits of Social Media for companies, big and small.

As this articles points out, “ignorance is not bliss when it comes to the web. Ignoring, avoiding or just not looking at what people are sharing online about your small business or your competitors is just plain lazy.”

Have a read of this article and we dare you to ignore the huge opportunities social media has to offer in the future… http://bit.ly/b8NwfS

RAF Falcons at the Royal Norfolk Show from Selesti TV on Vimeo.

We’re stocking up on after sun lotion here in the Selesti offices after a blazing hot couple of days at the Royal Norfolk Show, of which we were proud to be sponsors this year.

We joined 100,000 other visitors including families, businesses and schoolchildren at the event, determined to take in everything on offer from watching the impressive RAF Falcons‘ skydiving display to unsuccessfully trying to knock milk bottles over at one of event’s many stalls (we can confirm no employees of Selesti won any cuddly toys).

The fresh produce from Norfolk and further afield was world class as ever, and we enjoyed everything from traditional hog roasts to ostrich burgers, as well as lashings of Pimms, of course… well, who are we to go against tradition?

In a busy 2 days we saw a whole host of clients past and present (and hopefully future), including obviously the showground themselves, whose website we proudly designed and developed, we tried the new Spindrift beer that Adnams have recently launched, and meetings with Norfolk County Council and the NHS.

On the odd occasion we found time to sample the sponsors’ enclosure we enjoyed some wonderful hospitality, rubbing shoulders with the great and good of Norfolk, including one of the county’s favourite exports; BBC’s imposingly tall F1 presenter Jake Humphrey.

The next date in Selesti’s busy summer diary of local event support and sponsorship is Norwich Lanes Summer Fayre next weekend (Sunday 11th July 2010). After that there’s the Cancer Research UK Summer ball we’re sponsoring in August, see details here. Coming off the back of the East Anglian Game and Country Fair and the Royal Norfolk Show, we’ll need a good rest once this summer fades away…

For anyone not yet in the Christmas Spirit, here’s a little something we saw that made us giggle.

We wish all our clients the very merriest of yuletides and successfull and prosperous new year!

Well, after several software updates and a totally new version, where the hell is Flash browser support for the inbuilt Safari browser? I mean, come on Apple! As a digital agency, we were seriously hoping that we’d be able to see rich media content on the iPhone.

This isn’t a selfish need of mine, lots of people have questioned why no previous version will have Flash capabilities. Not only will it give users much richer browsing experiences, but the possibilities with mobile advertising semi-hinge on the iPhone being able to show Flash. Who wants to see a drab, low-res GIF alternative show up in place of a video expander?? I don’t!

Another gripe has to be the lack of MS Office again! It can open attachments, but editing a Word doc is still not possible. There are apps out there which are a little more extensive but they hardly do the same job as creating a new document, spreadsheet etc.

I love my iPhone, but I’m dissapointed with the missing features. Steve, if you’re reading this - give me a call

We have an advert on our site for a web developer, which has had a great response. But I think we’ve found our man.

Today we received an application from “Joe” which reads:

Please can I have this job.

I love you.

Our reply was simple:

WOW! You’ve got the job, start on Monday.

Joe was quick off the mark.

Excellent. See you Monday at 9.

We look forward to Joe joining the company - Joe, if you’re out there - we still need a reference.

Although we offer a range of SEO techniques to help increase the traffic to your site, we thought you might find a few little tips helpful, in order to get you started and ensure you are familiar with the SEO fundamentals.

So here are some basic steps to follow to make sure you are really getting the most out of your website:

1. Meta Tags
Make sure all of your pages have a unique title and description meta tags. It is also very important to use your keywords for the page in both of these tags as this can make a significant difference to your search engine placement.

2. Use keywords to link your own pages
Consistently use keyword focused links between your own web pages. Try to ensure that any links between your web pages use the keywords for the page you are linking to. Using the title of the page you are linking to is ideal if you can manage it.

3. Linking - Quality not Quantity
Go for quality links to your website. Avoid the temptation to list your site on every directory you can find. Concentrate on sourcing links from quality sites that already have a good standing with the search engines. Also avoid link farms or link partnering schemes. The value of these links is usually minimal and search engines tend to frown upon your website for having such poor links.

4. Get active on the Forums
Join related newsgroups and forums for your business community. If you actively participate in these groups and offer valuable input people will soon begin to notice you and thus more likely to link to your website from their site or blog. Also if you include your website address in your signature text for your posts then it is also highly likely that you will get links from all your posts.

5. Make sure everything works!
It is imperative that you check your site on a regular basis for broken links. Search engines really don’t like websites with broken links. Not only can they not index your site properly but it also implies that the website is not being well maintained. There is lots of different software that you can use for checking your site, one of the best being Google’s Webmaster. This is a free service, which will tell you if it finds any broken links.

If this has interested you in finding out a little bit more about what we can do to help your website, whether it is regarding Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or a Pay per click campaign, we will be more than happy to offer some advice and discuss your options - contact us today.

They featured in the “Best Ever” skill school on Sky Sports’ Soccer AM programme, their words not ours.

NCFC Skill School

Suffice to say these two are a tad more skillful than anyone at Selesti HQ…