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‘With SumoPaint you can Create, Share and Remix your Images. It is the the most versatile painting and photo manipulation application online. Currently it has more than 1 Million monthly active users and a vibrant community. We help people to communicate and tell stories visually. Our first products are SumoPaint and SumoCover.’
Developed in Finland, SumoPaint is a free and extremely versatile web application allowing you to paint and edit your own images, or browse and edit images from other members of the SumoPaint online community. The application offers a wide range of features, including a variety of filters such as ‘3D’, photo editing tools, drawing tools and other tools such as ‘Transform’ and ‘Warp and Distort’. As well as image manipulation, there is also a strong social community element to the site; users are able to sign up and create a profile with the option to make their images public – allowing other users to offer up their comments and ideas to the artist. The SumoPaint blog also features an Artist and Image of the month to celebrate and promote the creativity of its users. They have also recently launched a new application – SumoCover for Facebook, allowing you to create custom cover photos for the new Facebook timeline banner (a feature which in itself allows for great creativity – See here for examples!) So, if you have an interest in image manipulation or digital illustration then check it out – SumoPaint.Com!
Following the recent comment from Matt Cutts that Google is currently working on penalties for sites that are ‘over-optimized’, here at The Energy Cell we thought we could shed a little light on the tricky issue of SEO. For anyone unfamiliar with the world of online marketing, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is activity intended to improve the visibility of a website or webpage on the ratings of search engines and unless you know the basics, can be a potentially confusing topic. So, here is an introduction to some of the key areas our agency tackles when we get involved with a project, in order to help our clients get the best possible search engine ratings and make the most of their marketing spend.
As with any project, the first step is thorough research. Assuming the market research has shown the products or services that your business provides to be commercially desirable, there is no reason why your site should not be receiving traffic. Initial keyword research should be an integral part of the marketing strategy; it is important to ensure that your site is receiving not only a good quantity of visitors, but is attracting the appropriate audience. The use of precise and relevant keywords can vastly improve these statistics: for example, using other company names or irrelevant terms (such as ‘free’) for popularity may attract more traffic to your site, but the fact that your site is unlikely to be what they were looking for means the bounce rate will be high. Furthermore, it is important to resist the urge to stuff your website with keywords: the search engine robots use algorithms designed to detect an unnatural repetition of keywords, so your site could actually drop in the ratings or even be removed from the search engine results altogether.
On-site optimisation, making sure all pages of your site reiterate these target key phrases for the search engines, is the next step. Technical optimisation involves ensuring that each page of your site has a unique title tag, unique meta tags and alt tags, on-page headings and a search friendly URL: this will improve the usability of your site, not only for search engines but also for your users as well. Duplicate content and canonicalisation of URLS (having multiple URLs for the same content) also causes problems for search engines: each page of your site should have unique content and be checked for canonical domain issues to prevent search engines treating them as different sites. Lastly, your website should always be tested thoroughly – it should be easy to navigate with all links in working order and optimised to be mobile friendly.
Off-site optimisation involves link building, getting hyperlinks from trusted 3rd party websites back to yours, and is also highly important. Promoting your website through press releases, article submission, blog posts, social media, forums, directories and sponsorship all add to this but again it is quality – not quantity – that should be prioritised.
Finally, using analytics tools to analyse your site’s traffic is extremely beneficial: understanding who your users are and how they are using your site allows you to see which parts of your website are most successful: this information can then be fed back into improving the site further.
SEO can be a time consuming process, particularly if you are not fully aware of the specifics, but whether you do it yourself or hire an agency like us to take care of it for you, it is a vital part of ensuring the success of your site. Nevertheless, you should always remember that the primary focus of your site should be good quality content and an appealing and user-friendly website for your target audience, not the search engines: if your users can use and understand your site with ease, the search engine robots will be able to as well. For further information about what we can do or to discuss a project, please contact the team here!
In today’s fast-paced environment, we often find ourselves to be impossibly busy: organising your time efficiently to complete every crucial task becomes almost an art form. Without an effective way of managing your responsibilities, it is easy for tasks to slip through the cracks and become forgotten or delayed. So, with an abundance of things to get done and seemingly not enough hours in the day, how can you keep on top of your daily activities and make the most of your time?
The first point may seem a tad obvious – but get into the habit of keeping a diary: keep it up to date every day and eventually it will become second nature. Ensure that there is a sufficient level of detail added to each appointment; for example ‘Meeting with John, 9am’ reminds you to attend the appointment, but ‘Meeting with John Smith, 9-10am, Conference Room B – discuss new project and finalise estimates’ reminds you exactly when, where and why you arranged the meeting and what you need to accomplish.
Furthermore, make sure every passing thought, useful idea, phone call or message is written down. With so much going on, it is very easy to get distracted and forget concepts, names, dates, times and other important details – keep a notebook and pen on hand or digital application such as Noteshelf open at all times and jot things down as soon as possible.
Try to make the most of every minute – don’t let any time be spent worrying about what you need to get done when you could actually be doing something about it. So, if you are stuck on the train, use this time productively to check your diary, read over notes, make lists, send e-mails or make phone calls: whether this relates to your personal or work life, removing any items from your to do list will decrease stress levels and allow you to focus on other more pressing issues.
It is good practice to try and digitise (and back up) as much information as possible. By not relying solely on paper, your information will still be safe and accessible should disaster strike. Also, if you have synced your diaries between your laptop and smartphone and uploaded your documents to shared folders, you will no longer risk facing that sense of panic if you have left something vital in the taxi on the way to a meeting!
Develop your own system of organisation – whether this is a coloured or alphabetised filing system, or a clearly organised structure of files and documents on your computer, make sure everything has a designated place so you don’t have to waste any time looking for it later on.
Finally, learn how to effectively delegate – if you find you don’t have enough time to get everything done, consider if there’s any tasks that you don’t actually need to do yourself and, where appropriate, allow others to help share the workload.
Effective organisation can improve productivity, reduce stress levels and create a better work/life balance, so it is well worth trying to incorporate simple tips like these into your daily routine. Online task management tools such as Wunderlist can also be incredibly useful, or notetaking and archiving software such as Evernote – so check them out and see how they could help. Keep an eye out for more Energy Cell top tips and please feel free to share your own thoughts and ideas with the team!
‘Mashable’s mission is to empower and inspire people by spreading knowledge of social media and technology. Mashable is the largest independent news source dedicated to covering digital culture, social media and technology.’
Mashable.com is an award-winning site, packed full of useful and interesting articles on topics under the headings Social Media, Tech, Business, Entertainment and US & World. If you are looking for informative ‘How To’ articles on areas such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, SEO, reducing spam, or even how to get amazing flight deals – then this is definitely the website the visit! The articles are informative and entertaining, particularly the photo and video galleries, which contain a huge variety of diverse posts covering topics from Apple’s Siri, to Google Doodles, Typography to Laptop bags, and Retro Office Accessories to Peculiar Vending Machines. With 20 million monthly unique visitors and 4 million social media followers, Mashable have become one of the most engaged online news communities – so take a look, and please feel free to share your favourite articles with the Energy Cell team!
‘Odosketch seeks to recreate the decidedly non-digital experience of working with a sketchbook. Its papery textures, variety of brushes and intentional imperfections make you forget you’re working on a screen.’
Odosketch is a digital canvas application that uses flash, created by the San Fransico based digital marketing company Odopod. You can use Odosketch to create your own digital artwork, browse some of the amazing featured sketches, or see the most recent sketches added to the gallery. The playback feature replays the artist at work, so you can see exactly how they created their sketch – from blank canvas to finished product. There is definitely something quite addictive about watching the images come to life; the ability to see their techniques, methods and mistakes gives you an insight into the personality of the artist without ever actually meeting them. Although you cannot currently download the final image, you can copy the HTML code and embed the images into your website if you wish. However, the site is still being developed as its community of users keeps expanding, so keep an eye out for new features. Odosketch is a fun and quirky creative application, allowing you to sketch to your heart’s content… without ever having the worry of splashing paint on the carpet!