Archive for September, 2011


Creative Ecommerce Websites

Well-designed ecommerce and shopping cart websites are regularly referred to for web design inspiration by creative and experienced web developer

With the exceptional flexibility for customization of ecommerce scripts, third party tools and advanced functionality, shopping cart websites have revolutionized their look and feel and overall performance

Please go through the websites and let us know which ones are your favorites in terms of their design and usability.

Jolena

Jolena

Jesus Skid

Jesus Skid

DeFrae

DeFrae

Darling Clothes

Darling Clothes

Dans-ez

Dans-ez

Three Phases of Social Optimization

Onsite Optimization – Social Buttons are CTA Buttons

Why do it?

Why should you care about where your social buttons show up? For the same reason you care where you place your buy button on your landing pages; optimal button placement leads to higher conversions, whether the conversion in question is a fresh share of your blog content or product page, or a new Facebook Fan or LinkedIn group member.

In this sense, social buttons need to be viewed as calls to action. Find places on your pages that are the most visible and drop your social buttons there. What works best for your readers? Scrolling sidebar? Above and below the posts? All of the social buttons or just a select few? Test it and find out.

How to do it:

There are several ways to go about testing your social button placement. I’ll suggest a few here for you to start with, but feel free to expand and investigate alternate methods. If you find any good ones, let me know in the comments!

  • Use heat/click maps to see where your visitors click. Use a service like CrazyEgg to see where your visitors are lingering on a page and then place your social buttons accordingly. Once you’ve got your buttons in a spot that you think will convert well, run another click map to make sure you’re getting the focus on those buttons!
  • Just because the new button placement worked on a blog post doesn’t mean that it will work on a product page. Test your button placement and track the social action over a number of new posts and pages to see which works best.
  • Get creative with your social button placement. If you find that it converts best in the top-left corner, try putting the buttons in a scrolling sidebar. Or, if above/below the posts works best, make it a scrolling footer or header. Do users click social buttons at the bottom of posts rather than the top? Have your buttons pop up in a dynamic window once they scroll past a certain point in the post.
  • As always, only put social buttons where they make sense; you don’t want to pull people away from the final steps in your checkout process so they can look at your Facebook page. Buttons that allow you to share should be placed in locations that will attract more visitors: product pages, blog posts, the homepage, testimonial pages, etc. As a general rule, the further down the marketing funnel you go (IE: the closer you are to a conversion), the less you want to include social buttons.

While you’re testing your button placement, be sure you’re adhering to basic A/B testing practices. Don’t put too many social buttons on your site. For me, I’ve found that placing three key sharing locations works best for me. It’s like the holy trinity of social sharing.

But don’t take my experience as law; test your site and see which works best for you. If you overload your page with social buttons, your conversion rate will drop significantly. As a general rule, don’t put social buttons on your page for networks that you yourself are not active in. If someone shares your article on Orkut, you’ll never know and you won’t be able to engage with them.

2. Profile Optimization – Your Profile is a Landing Page

Why do it?

Your profile is how people find you. Several social tools making their way onto the scene are mining your profile to find topics you’re influential on, for example, Followerwonk. Examples of people who have increased their fans or followers abound. Rand Fishkin, well-known co-founder of SEOmoz, increased his Twitter follower accrual rate by just changing his profile picture.

Beyond the profile picture, your bio and description are critical to attracting new fans and followers. Whether it’s your Twitter bio, your Facebook fan page description, or your LinkedIn group’s description, you’ve got to make sure your description attracts new people. Optimizing your profile increases the likelihood that you show up higher in the search engines for the keyword you’re targeting (as should be obvious for anyone working in SEO). If your potential follower finds you through Twitter’s proprietary search engine or a fan runs a basic Google search to find sites in your niche, having a profile that is optimized for the correct keywords will help you show up higher in the results. Easily identifiable interests in your profile attract targeted followers.

How to do it:

First, before you can gather any quantifiable results, you’ve got to establish a baseline. Monitor your profile’s performance for at least two weeks and tally your follower/fan/member accrual rate. Now try modifying your profile (changing logo, profile pic, etc). Do keyword research, just like you would for any other piece of content you’re trying to promote on the web. Monitor your accrual rate for another two weeks. Repeat ad nauseum.

A sure way to alienate potential followers or fans is to stuff your bio full of strong and identifiable keywords. Limit yourself to two or three that describe what you do, what you share on, and what they can expect to see. Steer clear of overused phrases like “[subject] ninja/guru/expert” in your bio. Tell your fans what you do and allow them to decide how good you are at it. This may be more subjective than the other points here but hey, test it and see what works best for you!

3. Sharing Optimization – Sharing Content IS Content

Why do it?

Knowing when to say something is as important as knowing what to say. Sharing your best content when none of your followers are online to see it is just as useless as throwing spam to a crowd of followers. Using tools that identify when your followers are most commonly online and optimizing the time at which you share your content can increase conversion, reshare and retweet rates.

How to do it:

There are several tools out in the wide world of social analytics that can help you identify when to share to get the most impressions and reshares/retweets. Use tools like Tweriodand Crowdbooster to find out when your followers are online and tweet accordingly. You can schedule updates via apps like Timely and Buffer. If all else fails, you can simply post an update at the right time (crazy, right?).

For other metrics, like how well a share converts based on length of the update/share, employ some good, old-fashioned Excel data tracking. Rand Fishkin (again) found that, for him, shorter updates yielded higher clickthrough rates. What works best for you?

While you’re testing, though, be sure you don’t spam to test conversion rates. There’s no quicker way to lose followers and fans than to blast the link over and over in different formats. In the linked page above, a survey found that 66% of Twitter users would unfollow someone for spam sharing, and 58% would unfollow someone if they appeared automated. Space it out, get some friends to tweet variations of your message and see which does best. Automating your profile will also get people to block/unfollow you, so don’t completely automate your sharing.

The Four Cardinal Rules of Social Optimization

  1. Social buttons should be viewed as call to action buttons, and just as important as getting a user to click a buy button.
  2. A social profile is a landing page.
  3. Sharing content IS content. Optimizing your content doesn’t stop when it’s published, you’ve got to make sure the copy associated with what your sharing works too.
  4. As with all testing, you need significant traffic numbers to quantify significant results. Ideally, your testing pages should see a total of 1,000 visitors over the testing period to make any informed conclusion.

Credit: KISSmetrics

MY REVIEWS FOR SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB IN #INDIBLOGGER

I am writing this post after checking the pros and cons of the Samsung Galaxy Tab. I didn’t want to write just simply without reviewing the tablet as I wanted to experience the Samsung Galaxy Tab as a user not just write. I write what I implement or experiments on the gadgets

I can directly tell this tablet is in directly competition with IPad of Apple. Or it’s just an Alternative of Ipad for gadgets Freaks who are looking for affordable price

The Tablets looks very good when handling and the user interface is also smooth, and I found that lots of applications which are supporting it is also free and paid. The HSPA and in built Modem acts very fast to get access to internet via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth

The android markets for the Galaxy Tablets rocks! The motion technology is also quite interesting. After all this how could I miss the Phone functionality which is very important where you can’t find this option in IPAD.   With this option we can cover the MMS & SMS messaging along with the Voice Calls

The apps of the social hub are also quite interesting. Now let’s get to the pros and cons of the SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB

PROS of Samsung Galaxy Tab

  • Light weight where we can carry anywhere and slim I can tell this will revolutionize the market
  • Upgradable to any version of the software which is built on it
  • Bright Screen usable in direct sunlight
  • User Interface is very good
  • Dual Camera with video recording facilities
  • Battery Life seems to be as I was continual browsing non stop

CONS of Samsung Galaxy Tab

  • The main I would like to inform about the cons is the price as it is the range of the IPAD, whereas there are few more branded tablets available when targeting to the Indian industry. If the price was lower it would be very good to swipe the markets
  • I don’t know whether this tablets support the voice calls
  • There is no USB option if that was there it would consider very well. Since most of us use the external drives/ thumb
    drives may be a working professional or we can use to connect the keyboards and work easily
  • The Image quality is not much impressive as I have interviewed few people and takes some snapshots it seems to be blurry. The camera quality has to be improved. I am using the Samsung products sine more than 3 years.
  • Now the major point is everyone is looking for HD or BluRay I don’t find any option to record a video in HD or Bluray format
  • I have checked personally that most of the flash based websites don’t work
  • And some of the movie formats also don’t open if there was a codec available which would work on any type of videos would be good.
  • Multi-tasking response is very slow we need to close most of the Apps to increase the performance speed.
  • The other major option i would love to have is reading books i mean voice based. Where tablets read the eBooks so that the user can listen to it may be while travelling, or any other. it would not
    provide the user any stress to eyes

Overall I can tell that this tablet is mostly considered for business people. If it was for average people or any student’s organization I would consider myself to get a few

SHARE SOME COMMENTS ABOUT THE SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB REVIEW AND LET EVERYONE KNOW WHAT YOU ARE THINKING.

THANKS FOR READING MY POST TAKE A TIME TO HAVE A LOOK ABOUT SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB REVIEW from WWW.STUFF.V

Brand Pages of Travel Industry

Showcase some beautiful travel websites to inspire you. find the travel websites featuring all sorts of travel destinations, from Australia to Europe, Africa and more.

Emirates

Emirates flies to more than 100 destinations globally, and also offers holidays, tours, hotels and car rentals — book your flight with Emirates

Emirates

Delia Explorers

Delia Explorers is located on the banks of the Lutaba River, inside the North Luangwa National Park, it has five treehouses. Toilets and barbecues. It has been built following the African style taking a special care with the surroundings

Delia Explorers

Indigenous Tours

Indigenous is a travel agency in India offering well-planned tour packages to our customers across the world.

Indigenous Tours

TravelBuzz

TravelBuzz

Telluride

VisitTelluride.com is the official website of the Telluride Tourism Board. Learn about hotels, summer or winter activities, and book travel, accommodation and lodging deals with Telluride Central Reservations. The Telluride Tourism Board is  a nonprofit community organization dedicated to promoting tourism to Telluride, Mountain Village and the region.

Telluride Tourism Board

Silversea Cruise Discount

Silversea Cruise Discount, a division of All-Travel,  is a privately held professional travel management corporation specializing in leisure and business travel planning. Silversea Cruise Discount guarantees the best Silversea Cruise prices while delivering an unparalleled level of personal service

Silversea Cruise Discount

Captain John Smith Chesapeake

Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail is America’s first water-based national historic trail. It consists of the combined routes of Smith’s historic voyages on the Chesapeake Bay

Captain John Smith Chesapeake

Anders dan anders

Anders dan anders

Utah.Travel

The Utah Travel guide is your tool for discovering the land, the seasons, the heritage, the culture and the adventure you’ll find throughout this amazing state.

Utah Travel

SMART Travel

SMART Travel Agency offers vacation according to your wishes. a wide range of our offerings include active relaxing vacation, holidays in the Alps, trips to the Alps, stay in the mountains

SMART Travel Agency

Tourism Australia

Find travel ideas for planning your Australian holiday. Discover things to do, places to go and more. The official site of Tourism Australia.

Tourism Australia

Orlando Vacation Homes

Having discovered the benefits of Orlando vacation homes over fifteen years ago, OVH 360 is dedicated to growing and promoting the vacation home concept in Central Florida and building a business to benefit all our guests and stakeholders.

Orlando Vacation Homes

African Budget Safaris

African Budget Safaris is an experienced team of African travel fanatics based in Cape Town, South Africa. Through years spent bundu bashing up and down the African continent, we’ve tried every type of safari under the sun and sorted the diamonds from the rough

African Budget Safaris

Jordan Tourism

The Jordan Tourism Board (JTB) was officially launched in March 1998 as an independent, public – private sector partnership committed to utilize marketing strategies to brand, position and promote the Jordan tourism product as the destination of choice in the international markets.

Jordan Tourism

The Mountain Company

The Mountain Company is an adventure travel company specialising in the organisation of small group treks and inspirational expeditions to the Himalaya, Karakoram and Kilimanjaro.

The Mountain Company

ThinkATrip

ThinkATrip is India’s leading Online Travel Portal that provides domestic and international flight air tickets, discount hotels booking.

ThinkATrip

Visit Norway

Visit Norway – Norway Official Travel Guide- Plan your holiday in Norway with free guides and videos. Learn about fjords, northern lights, midnight sun, where to stay, walking, fishing and more.

Visit Norway

Surfcamp Portugal

Surfcamp Portugal is the perfect surf holiday getaway for both beginners and seasoned surfers. Which is only a 3-minute walk from Foz do Lizandro beach in Ericeira, Portugal – surf capital of the Lisbon area and regular location for the World Surf Championship. Portugal is Europe’s surf Mecca and Ericeira was recently named one of only three World Surfing Reserves

Surfcamp Portugal

Costa Navarino

Luxury resort hotels, private residences and signature golf courses set against a backdrop of unspoiled seaside scenery and 4,500 years of history

Costa Navarino

Baja Vacations

Baja Vacations is pleased to provide vacation rentals in two of the finest beachfront resorts in Los Cabos. Our onsite concierge staff at Las Mañanitas and Tortuga Bay, take great pride in assuring that each trip is memorable and carefree.

Baja Vacations

Tourism Thamel

Thamel is the heart of Nepal’s tourism. It is the place where tourist get everything they want. It is a colourful and beautiful mixture of craft shops, boutique cafes, trekking gear, and rainbow prayer flags.

Tourism Thamel

Philadelphia

Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) is a private, non-profit organization that promotes leisure travel to Philadelphia and The Countryside®. Recognizing that leisure tourism could be an important industry for the city and region, the City of Philadelphia, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and The Pew Charitable Trusts founded GPTMC in 1996.

Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC)

Live Africa

Live Africa was originally founded in 2001, spearheaded by the passionate and experienced travel industry duo of Steve and Bridgit Griessel.

Live Africa

Visit Snowy Mountains

The region of Snowy Mountains is home to Australia’s greatest snow fields – offering downhill and cross-country skiing and snowboarding.

Visit Snowy Mountains

Alpine Meadows

Alpine Meadows is an exciting skiing and snowboarding mountain resort in Lake Tahoe, California. Alpine has some of the most extreme terrain and best snow, high speed chair lifts and terrain parks in the Tahoe Basin.

Alpine Meadows

Hawaii Tourism

The fresh, floral air energizes you. The warm, tranquil waters refresh you. The breathtaking, natural beauty renews you. Look around. There’s no place on earth like Hawaii. Whether you’re a new visitor or returning, our six unique islands offer distinct experiences that will entice any traveler.

Hawaii Tourism

Experience Washington

Find what you need to plan the perfect trip to Washington State from the official website by Washington State Tourism.

Experience Washington

Trent River Cruises

Trent River Cruises

Egypt Tourism

Embarking on a trip to Egypt is an exciting experience as there is almost no end to the possible activities and sights that await you.

Egypt Tourism

Monterey

Book your Monterey vacation or your trip to Carmel, Big Sur, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach and all of Monterey County at official web site for the Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Monterey

Definitely Dubai

We have at hand the task of sharing one of the most inspiring stories of the last half-century. The story of a city built on unwavering vision. A city built with single-minded passion and love. A city the world has come to know as Dubai.  Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) has been the Dubai Government’s destination marketing organisation. Taking it from a little known Middle Eastern city to a globally recognised commerce and tourism brand!

Definitely Dubai

Idaho

Idaho covers two time zones, runs from Canada to Nevada, and encompasses the western side of the continental divide of the Rocky Mountains. Rivers, mountains and farmland dominate the state’s landscape.

Idaho

Republic Dominicaine

Welcome to the Office of Tourism of the Dominican Republic. Discover the destination and practical information for planning your trip.

République Dominicaine

Alaska Zipline Adventures

Canopy Zipline Tour located in the alpine rainforest of Juneau Alaska. Experience the ultimate zip line adventure, and zip into the wild in Alaska

Alaska Zipline Adventures

Kosciuszko Alpine Guided Walks

Experience the beauty and solitude of the Kosciuszko National Park with one and two day guided treks featuring fully catered, in-field, star-covered, overnight campsites.

Kosciuszko Alpine Guided Walks

Roadside Heritage

Roadside Heritage has its origins in the stunning landscape of the Eastern Sierra. Running parallel with the eastern side of the Sierra Mountains, Highway 395 connects Reno, Nevada and Southern California, passing through Mono and Inyo counties.

Roadside Heritage

Rica Surf

Costa Rica Surf Vacations, Trips & Surf Lessons

Rica Surf

Pacific Ohana Hostel

Located on the island of Oahu, Pacific Ohana Hostel and Island Hostel are the most convenient and affordable hostels in Hawaii.

Pacific Ohana Hostel

Utah Travel

Home to five national parks, 43 state parks, seven national monuments, two national recreation areas, impossible landscapes, and unparalleled outdoor recreation opportunities, Utah features the best of both the Rocky Mountains and the Desert Southwest

Utah Travel

The Red Rock Ranch

The Red Rock Ranch is a family owned and operated Jackson Hole dude ranch located just outside of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park.

The Red Rock Ranch

Grand Hotel Tremezzo

The Grand Hotel Tremezzo, 5-star hotel has a panoramic view of Lake Como. It also offers a spa and a very fine restaurant for a pleasant stay.

Grand Hotel Tremezzo

Brookside Resort

The Brookside Resort is a peaceful Gatlinburg Motel, nestled in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains.

Brookside Resort

MGM Grand

The MGM Grand Las Vegas is a hotel casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada.

MGM Grand

Anchorage City Trolley Tours

Make the most of your stay in Anchorage by hopping aboard Anchorage’s favorite Trolley. Visit historic spots, watch float planes depart from Lake Hood, view the breath-taking mountains, and don’t forget the camera for the many photo opportunities.

Anchorage City Trolley Tours

Thornbury Castle Hotel

Thornbury Castle is the only Tudor castle open as a hotel, its beautiful oriel windows, Tudor hall and historic parkland are all yours for the duration of your stay.

Thornbury Castle Hotel

Dismals Canyon Conservatory

Dismals Canyon – located in Northwest Alabama – is an 85 acre Natural Conservatory privately owned and operated.

Dismals Canyon Conservatory

Tourdust

Tourdust is a revolutionary online travel agent for independent travellers who are looking to book with responsible, quality local operators.  We offer full financial protection and competitive local prices.

Tourdust

Windrock Lodge

Windrock Lodge is just the place your imagination would take you, with beautiful views, kitchens, and all the amenities to make your stay the perfect ATV adventure.

Windrock Lodge

Drake Hotel

The Drake Hotel is a cultural, entertainment and hospitality landmark in Toronto. In the seven years since our opening, Drake has come to be known as an energetic hub for visual & performance art as well as dining and hospitality, thus providing one of Canada’s most unique and sought after hotel and culinary experiences.

Drake Hotel

Clover Cottage

The charm of Clover Cottage, with its cottage gardens, gnarled old trees and misty river valley setting provides an aura of romance and tranquillity of a bygone era. The four superbly built and appointed limestone cottages offer wood fires, spas and stunning views.

Clover Cottage

Folly Beach

Tides Folly Beach. Only nine miles from historic, downtown Charleston, Our newly renovated hotel sits on the region’s most beautiful beach and offers all the amenities and Southern hospitality you desire.

Tides Folly Beach

Delano South Beach

Delano Hotel in South Beach Miami is the ultimate world-class urban resort and self-contained destination, a haven of relaxation. Reserve your room today.

Delano South Beach

WheelLife Travel

WheelLife Travel

Little Palm Island

Florida beach resorts – Unique luxury island resort at Little Torch Key in the Florida Keys. Luxury and elegance on your own private island – Visit Little Palm Island Resort & Spa.

Little Palm Island

Hotel Grand Pacific

The Hotel Grand Pacific is modern luxury at its finest. Conveniently located on the Inner Harbour in Victoria, British Columbia, the Grand has everything you look for in a great hotel — exceptional service, wonderful amenities and a premium location

Hotel Grand Pacific

Sofitel Hotels

Infused with the spirit of its location, each Sofitel luxury hotel is a stunning blend of modernity, elegance and comfort, the ultimate embodiment of the French art of living.

Sofitel Hotels

Thistle

Thistle Hotels are part of Guoman Hotel Management (UK) Limited operating a number of hotels throughout the UK. Thistle has 33 hotels across the country, many in superb city centre locations, including eleven in central London

Thistle Hotels

Waldorf Astoria

Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts represents an array of hotels and resorts combining breathtaking surroundings and legendary personalized service. Each luxury hotel is a classic in its own right, known for its inspiring architecture, authentic history, and luxurious guest rooms.

Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts

DO YOU HAVE A BRAND TRAVEL PORTAL WHICH WE MISSED DO LET US KNOW?

effective Youtube video ad campaign

Facebook is the go-to social network for social advertisers, and the site has certainly proved it’s value in returning good results and awareness for brands. Youtube is a less obvious choice for many marketers, yet it’s an excellent platform for running social video ads and can prove to be cost-effective while delivering real business results. Many businesses of course, will be put off by Youtube as they may not have the necessary video assets to fully capitalise on this, but Youtube’s promoted video option is something that brands should focus on and you don’t necessarily need to invest in full-scale video production, if you have a clear strategy in place to make the content work for you.

The audience

To provide some context on how Youtube advertising can work, the video below shows the impressive figures behind Youtube homepage takeovers. While this is a much more significant advertising undertaking for brands than a standard promoted video campaign, the figures show how engaged audiences are on Youtube. Google and Compete recently ran a report into the effectiveness of Facebook ads, with some surprising results. Given that the ad report was commissioned by Google, these findings are of course skewed towards the positive, but they are useful nonetheless.

Read More: effective Youtube video ad campaign

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