Firstly, a few minutes of perfection from Mitchell and Webb – Apple, take notice, your latest product is showcased here.

Next, the Vocus online conference we attended on Wednesday. A great opportunity to listen to presentations from five influential speakers from the world of PR, social media and marketing, including Deidre Breakenridge, David Meerman Scott, Beth Harte, Lee Odden and Brian Solis. If you missed it, don’t worry, we’ll be talking more about its finer points next week so stay tuned to the Ikroh blog for that…

And finally, an interesting discussion on the importance and impact of fonts. Yes, you heard, fonts, or typefaces, or those words and stuff you read on a daily basis. How you choose to present your content can effect the way your audience reacts to it, so think carefully before you go for the wingdings…

Related posts

• Why Social Media is so Important for Brand Awareness (0)
• What do dragons dream of? Twitter trends, apparently. (0)
• We’re not suggesting you cause a massive oil spill but… (1)
• Social Media Strategies – Why Should I Have One? (2)
• Putting Social Media Marketing into Practice (0)

The Cinematic Orchestra’s interpretation of Lilac Wine, in honour of Dr. Marten’s 50th anniversary. Blissful.

Possibly the best social media story ever:

And finally, the most effective use of a facebook status to, um, save the world from wolves?

Related posts

• Will Google Buzz Change the Social Media Game? (0)
• Why Social Media is so Important for Brand Awareness (0)
• What’s the Buzz About Google Buzz? (0)
• What do dragons dream of? Twitter trends, apparently. (0)
• We’re not suggesting you cause a massive oil spill but… (1)

On, this, the first Friday of July, Ikroh is spreading our love around.

How about your own Twitter parade? (Why a monkey parade, you ask? Why NOT a monkey parade?) An ego stroking exhibition of just how many Twits adore you (or monkeys), in flash form. Giggle at those who get turned into yappy dogs. See what everyone’s saying in one big crowd of funny-headed avatars. Like most things in life, it’s over all too quickly. Let’s do it again… Visit IS parade to make your own.

Museum of Modern Tweets – Artist Odessa Begay gives you something to do with Twitter on a Tuesday (because it’s always a bit of a ‘meh’ day, huh?). Each week he takes a celebrity’s tweet and transforms it into a weird and wonderful representation.

Vuvuzelas for BP – A campaign on Kickstarter to thoroughly irritate BP for a day with an army of vuvuzela-players (or should that be blowers, it’s not like they qualify as a music instrument… more like a cross between a depressed elephant and an upset stomach) non-stop vuvuzela-ing outside the London headquarters. Web video producer, Adam Quirk is the brain behind the bizarreness, and his annoying creation has already surpassed his original budget – all excess money is going to the Gulf Disaster Fund.

Related posts

• Top Tips on Twitter! (0)
• The Lowdown on Search Engine Marketing (0)
• Putting Social Media Marketing into Practice (0)
• Optimising for Google Product Search (0)
• Ikroh Loves… Lilac Wine, Ambitious Dogs & Status Games (1)

We’re fully into <shh, don’t jinx it> summer now. Feeling a lot of worldly love for the sunshine, bbqs, wearing flip flops – oh – you’re stuck inside, working? Sorry. If you’re chained to your computer, this week’s selection of “Ikroh Loves…” might cheer you up.

There are lot of these banging around YouTube, but this one’s a doozy. The thinking man’s soundtrack accompaniment:

And if you don’t have time to play Mario all day (ahem), then how about making work a little more pleasant with one of these opulent work station configurations, catalogued by Web Design Ledger?

Ever wondered what life was like before Twitter? What percentage of tweets are pointless babble? The peak days of the week for RTs, spamming and genuine conversation? You HAVE? Oh, well then this will be perfect for you – here’s hubspot’s Ultimate List of 100 Twitter Statistics. Knock yourself out:

Have a splendid week, from Ikroh.

Related posts

• What is a Click? What’s an impression? And why are they important? (0)
• Social Media Strategies – Why Should I Have One? (2)
• Putting Social Media Marketing into Practice (0)
• No time for SEO? (0)
• Ikroh’s top 4 SEO Tips for 2009 (0)

As of Friday 25^th June 2010… (that’ll be tomorrow, those of you living under rocks)… the UK arrival of the iPhone 4 is upon us. Soon, how long you spent in a tent, in a queue, in tears, will be irrelevant. Maluphiles (that’s apple lovers to you) the country over will rejoice, pour libations of apple juice and dance on the graves of their old handsets like it’s the iPhone solstice… Can you tell I’m a bit peeved that I don’t have one?

For those of you joining me in sullen jealousy, let’s plan for the future. Which tariff to go for, if and when we decide to join the cool kids? The networks currently providing contracts for the iPhone are 3 Mobile, O2, Orange, Vodaphone, Tesco and T-Mobile, and packages vary. Here’s the rundown:

3 Mobile:

Having just released these details, and following a massive advertising push regarding their increased network improvements, the UK’s littlest provider, 3 Mobile, are trying to corner the market here, offering some of the best deals of the bunch.

All contracts are 24 months, ranging from £30-45/m with handsets costing £99 for the 16GB (free with the £45/m plan) and £89-189 for the 32BG model. All plans will give you 500 network minutes, 5000 texts, 5000 three-to-three minutes and 1GB of internet.

Three is also offering sim only and PAYG plans – you can see them all here. You’ll have to wait though, as it’s not actually available for contracts on launch date – 3 say it’s “coming soon” – though you can buy direct from Apple from the 25^th June and choose a sim only contract.

Vodafone:

18 month plans range from £30-65/month for a 16GB handset, which costs £219 with the cheapest plan and free with the £65 plan. A standard of unlimited texts, 1GB of internet and wifi stay the same across all the plans (except the £30/m deal, which offers a pretty measly 75 mins and 250 texts), with minutes increasing by 300 on each deal. 24 month plans are much the same, apart from monthly tariffs being 5 quid cheaper.

For the 32GB things look extremely similar, apart from a hike in the cost of the handset, ranging from £309 on a £30/25 per month contract to £59 on a £65/60 per month contract (18 and 24 months respectively).

For pay as you go, you’ll just have to wait, as all Vodafone details are yet “to be confirmed”.

Orange:

18 month contracts start at £30/m and end at £75/m, with minutes ranging from 150 to 3000, and texts coming to 500 on all except the £30/m plan (which offers 250), though unlimited internet and Wi-Fi are standard. The handset itself will set you back £99-£229 for a 16GB model. For a 32GB handset, you’ll pay between £139-£319 for a similar plan.

24 month contracts offer a little more, ranging from £25-£75/m, with 16GB handsets costing £229 max and coming free with a £75/m contract. Texts go from 125 to unlimited once you pass the £35/m mark, and minutes from 75 to unlimited. As with the 18 month contracts, handset price changes with the 32GB model, from £29-£319.

02:

All monthly tariffs here come with unlimited texts and Wi-Fi, with plans ranging from £25-£60 for 24 months, and £30-£65 for 18 months. For a 16GB handset, you’ll pay a max of £279 – it comes free with the top tariff for both lengths of contract. For a 32GB, costs range from £29-£323.

As with Vodafone, PAYG details are still in the works.

Tesco:

Tesco are offering 12 month contracts for the 16GB handset range from £20/m to £35/m, offering 250-750 minutes, unlimited texts, 1GB mobile data and unlimited BT Openzone Wi-Fi. Handsets cost a whopping £229-£349, though if you choose a £45/m, 24 month deal, you’ll only pay £19 for the handset and get unlimited minutes too.

For the 32GB, 12 month tariff, the details are the same, apart from a handset costing between £99 for a £45/m contract and £429 for a £20/m contract. You do get the bonus of 1000 Tesco Clubcard Points with every deal, however.

T-Mobile:

Who knows? The network still hasn’t revealed any pricing plans or ideas of how their tariffs will compare. Perhaps they’re waiting to undercut everyone completely…?

STILL CONFUSED?

Here’s the comparison for a mid-range £35/m tariff:

16GB

32GB

So there you have it, enjoy it if you get one, or join me to rock gently in a darkened corner if not. And when the riots start, I’ll meet you at the Apple shop to pillage…

Related posts

• The iPhone 4G – Was Christmas Ruined? (0)
• How does mobile SEO work (1)

Friday, Ikroh’s in Love…

We are a loving bunch here at Ikroh. Group hugs are common in the office, sushi is shared, children are entertained and our coffee cups runneth over. “Ikroh Loves…” is a weekly post dedicated to the web wanderings of our team and the multimedia we’ve come across and are feeling the love for; apps, music, photos, design, video, articles, news, tools, guides and sites. If you’re similarly loved up, go ahead and submit your own beloved wanderings as a comment or an email and we might just agree with you and post them here.

Without further ado, here are this week’s contenders:

App:

The Sky News iPhone App – Keep updated on whatever news floats your boat with easily navigated tabs organised by subject and no ads to get in the way. You can view videos, get text alerts and even submit your own reports. (We’re all into apps right now because of Top Secret developments at Ikroh regarding iPhone and Android to help with Social Media Marketing and SEO… Watch this space.)

Images:

36 Features the iPhone Definitely Didn’t Get – Winning suggestions in a photoshop contest on Gizmodo, include a lightsaber, not one but TWO itoasters, bacon maker (our fave) and  boob authentication (well, in the world of geeks it was inevitable to have something boob-related submitted) to name but a few.

Website:

Awkward Family Photos – if you haven’t been here before, you’ll spend several hours here now. A comprehensive archive of strange, humorous and disturbing family photos and portraits, submitted by their blushing stars or family members. From the famous “Thanksgiving Letter” to the most heinous display of denim and mullets in the known world, AFP has the length and breadth of excruciating nostalgia.

Happy wandering!

Related posts

• Why Social Media is so Important for Brand Awareness (0)
• What makes a brand popular? (0)
• The Lowdown on Search Engine Marketing (0)
• The Importance of SEO when Developing a Website (0)
• Social Media Strategies – Why Should I Have One? (2)

Microsoft has recently landed a deal with Channel 4 cartoon, The Simpsons, in Microsoft’s first sponsorship of a UK television programme. The deal also ties in with the 20^th anniversary of the cartoon series and has become the very first technology company to get behind the show and provide them with a sponsor.

The sponsorship deal will help push a major advertising approach for their new search engine deal, Microsoft Bing. Microsoft has invested millions to encourage more people to start using the search engine and build a better presence online, hoping that the broad spectrum popularity of The Simpsons will assist with this.

Specially designed Microsoft Bing adverts will be shown before, after and in commercial breaks of every Simpsons show on Channel 4 and Channel 4+1. The adverts will depict families using Microsoft Bing as their preferred choice of search engine.

Microsoft had previously been the main sponsor for another cartoon series, Family Guy, but stepped back from the deal after deciding that the sometimes offensive, adult content of the show did not fit the company’s brand.

The adverts – which are using the tag “Bing and decide” – aim to show viewers how the search engine is different to any others. The TV campaign will be supported by Microsoft Live, MSN, partner sites and online news providers.

With Google currently leading the search engine market, Microsoft is putting together a massive advertising campaign to meet their goals and become Google’s closest rivals – a title currently held by Yahoo. Google search massively dominates the field at the moment, taking over 80% of the global search market. With large investments and company time Microsoft Bing will certainly try to change these figures to their advantage.

Related posts

• 5 Reasons you Shouldn’t Ignore Microsoft Bing (2)

Over the past year we have seen a large increase in clients utilising Facebook’s ad space. So the big question is when will Google look at trying to obtain shares again? Microsoft currently have an interest of 1.6 per cent stake which sounds small but when you consider the company has an estimated value of $3 billion, it sounds like more of a good deal….

Moving forward we can see Facebook becoming a strong alliance for search companies like us to help our clients generate new business opportunities. It’s certainly one we’ll be keeping our eye on.

Related posts

• Social Media Strategies – Why Should I Have One? (2)
• We’re not suggesting you cause a massive oil spill but… (1)
• Top Tips on Twitter! (0)
• New Head of Social Media Marketing at Ikroh SEO (0)
• Google Me, Gimme a Buzz, or a Wave – just NOTICE ME! (1)

It may sound counterintuitive but you can save yourself a lot of money by spending a little. By spending money on a search engine marketing consultant you can actually save money off your total budget for online marketing. A search engine optimisation consultant will take the time to analyse your website and your business needs and deduce where your money is best spent in order to give the highest return on investment. Ikroh’s consultants not only have the skills to see what you should be spending your money on, they also constantly monitor the campaign so that your money is always working for you.

Related posts

• The Lowdown on Search Engine Marketing (0)
• Get Results Clickety-Split with Pay Per Click Advertising (0)

Google is a lot simpler than many of the other portal style search sites such as Yahoo! or msn.com, with it’s plain white page featuring only a few links and a box to enter your search query in. Sites such as Yahoo! or msn.com offer the user snippets of news, weather, links to their own shopping sites and chat forums, while Google has instead focussed on perfecting it’s search engine. While it does offer email accounts and an online map, these are very subtly displayed in one word links at the top of the page. It is a style that is unique to Google and has become instantly recognisable to the majority of internet users.

The predecessor of modern search, Yahoo! still serves around 20% of all internet search queries, but as Google has 70%, Yahoo!’s share looks pretty small. The Yahoo! search engines seem to be preferred by many female web users, as well as some parts of the business community, so if this is the market you are targeting, it might be worth focussing on moving up Yahoo!’s rankings, or even using them for your pay per click campaigns.

Related posts

• Why should you pay someone to manage your Google Adwords Campaign? (1)
• Video: Matt Cutts Google Engineer Interview (1)
• Matt Cutts Confirms Mayday Algorithm is Here to Stay (0)
• Is Pay Per Click Right For You? (0)
• Google Takes a Caffeine Hit (1)

It’s an often quoted cliché that a customer who receives bad service will tell at least ten people while a customer who has good service will tell just one. It is true that you should always make every effort to avoid bad reviews, which can be fatal for your business, but I feel that this underplays the importance of the customer who feels he has had fantastic customer service. These are the customers who don’t just provide your company name when asked if they know anyone who does ‘X’; these are the customers who tell everyone they meet about your company, and even find ways to work it into the conversation so that they have the excuse to talk about the service they received. These are the customers who rave about you.

Raving customers might be the holy grail of customer service, but this is a holy grail which is surprisingly easy to reach. Simply take the time to treat your customers as individuals and listen to their requirements, or any concerns (even complaints) that they have and then follow up as required. Finding out what a customer really thinks of you can be as easy as asking them, or as complicated as producing a customer service questionnaire to fill in. The important point is that you must act on any concerns they have. Surprisingly, raving customers are not the ones who have never had a complaint about you; they can be customers who had huge complaints which were resolved quickly and to their complete satisfaction.

To put it bluntly, the more customers of this type you can get, the more free advertising you will get. There is nothing like word of mouth for bringing in business – if a friend tells you how great a company is, chances are you’ll believe them, while you are less likely to believe a company raving about itself! These customers will keep coming back to you every time they need your service, and they will send lots of potential customers your way, long after they have finished doing business with you. But providing exemplary customer service is not just about working towards more sales; you can be certain you will have happy customers, and no one telling their friends and acquaintances negative things about you.

Related posts

• M-Commerce – welcome to the future (1)

In the past few years the way we watch television and use the internet has changed dramatically, making broadband a necessity for most households. With the advent of iplayer and all the other on demand, online television channels, the need for fast download times and reliability is paramount. Downloading a programme from iplayer on a dial up line would take hours…if not days! With a good broadband speed the same process can be completed in minutes. And if you want to watch it online you need a good connection speed to ensure there is no lag on the video, as well as a reliable connection to prevent it hanging half way through the programme (and it’s always just when it gets really interesting, isn’t it?!)

But surely we have broadband for more than just the ability to watch a television programme we missed last week and forgot to record? Well, yes. In fact since the advent of wireless broadband we can make use of the fact that the internet is no longer tied down inside desktop computers. Laptops are obviously portable, but when you’re on a packed train on your way to London it can be difficult to balance a laptop on your knees, so instead more of us are reaching for the mobile phone which connects via the train’s wireless router. With 3G technology it is every bit as quick as a laptop, but has the added benefit of being easy to use with just one hand, and doesn’t take up much space.

In this new world of connectivity the devices that can use our broadband connection to go online is expanding rapidly. Even game consoles connect nowadays, and you can guarantee that next year and the year after, even more of our belongings will have an internet connection built in as standard. The internet is becoming more and more a part of everyday life for everyone, so we all need a reliable, fast connection to start with.

Related posts

• M-Commerce – welcome to the future (1)

Ordnance Survey are one of the largest map-makers in the world. They have been providing detailed geographic information for over 200 years and are still at the forefront of the mapping industry. In that time, the methods they use for collecting the data has changed dramatically – the advent of computers transformed the process completely. From their headquarters in Southampton, Ordinance Survey now supply maps for both business and leisure users, in paper form as well as digitally.

With their pink covers, the most well known of the Ordinance Survey’s paper maps is probably the OS Landranger Map series. They are full of information to help you plan a day trip or a weekend away, with a 1:50 000 scale and include an abundance of attractions to visit. For the walking enthusiast, Ordinance Survey produces the Explorer series, with an orange cover. These maps are a little more detailed with a 1: 25 000 scale and show features such as public footpaths and bridleways. The OS Travel Maps are aimed at the motorist, with eight regional maps, and one national map. The regional maps with green covers encompass the whole of Great Britain’s road network for those who are travelling in their own area, while the blue covered national map is essential for anyone planning to travel long distances.

As one of the Ordinance Survey’s Licensed Partners, Global Mapping can offer the complete range of OS Data as well as their range of paper maps. Click here to purchase OS Data and maps.

Related posts

• No related posts.

# openphoto.net

# picswiss.ch

# istockphoto.com

# foto-archiv.at

# imagepoint.biz gal.mvc.ru

# pixelperfectdigital.com

# GetThePixel.com

# sxc.hu

# intuitivmedia.de

# picturestock.de

# webshots.com

# photoknack.com

# photospin.com

# corbisstockmarket.com

# picturestation.net

# creativity103.com

# freestockphotos.com

# freeimages.com

# laterramagica.com

# digitalvision.com

# photobreed.com

# freeimages.co.uk

# photosforfree.de

# picturestation.net

# FotoDatenbank.com

# royaltyfreephotos.com

# free-stock-photos.com

# bigfoto.com

# imije.com

# photosforfree.de

# imagecase.com

Please feel free to comment to add to this list.

Related posts

• No related posts.

Related posts

• No related posts.