Welcome to the Escape Blog

So, back into the swing of things. Not much happening on the customer and work front as people are just getting back and I am sure half the country has taken this week off.

Steve started in our web team and promptly knocked up a website in double quick time.

Our Escape database v.3 went live internally much to everyone’s delight. Gaz did a sterling job creating this over the past few months hitching a lift in with the milkman with some early starts. We are going to aim to have some of it accessible on the web throughout this year for clients.

The studio have been busy this week, so busy in fact that they haven’t had time to play on their new Space Hopper. Andy has a new hat though to keep his ‘heed’ warm.

The Web is About Authority and Trust

The ease of which anyone can create a website now makes it quite simple to create a ‘new’ business and start trading on-line. In our industry, I know of people who work from home who have great websites that make them look a lot bigger than they are and I applaud their effort. On the other hand, there are quite large companies whose websites are appalling.

Getting found on the web is no easy task and most commercial enterprises want to find the quick route (which doesn’t exist).

Building Trust Takes Time

Take a minute to think about how trust works off-line, a book for example. The first time you see a new Author you are unsure whether the book will be good or not, you have very little to go by apart from the cover and maybe some critics, etc. Books build trust by being good. A few people read it then tell more people and the buzz spreads. Think Harry Potter. Now, when J.K. Rowling writes the next Harry Potter book she is already trusted because she has already delivered in the past. I am sure it wasn’t like that when the first book came out., it developed over time.

Think how that relates to a web proposition. You have a new website, nobody knows about it apart from the few people you may tell or some other marketing. Perhaps, after a while people will find your website and tell other people about it if it’s good. If it’s very good, other sites and blogs may link to you, so you become more trusted (This is how Google bases a lot of it’s ranking scheme).

Enhancing Trust

I personally think there are some fundamental things you can do to enhance your trust from the offset and some of them revolve around the previous post on law updates in the UK.

1. Don’t pretend too much - there is a market for everyone and does your proposition sell to your market?
2. Create relevant content that has quality to it. Think about the words you use. Many Search engines now use an advanced form of reading your content called Latent Seminatic Indexing. This basically means that it looks at every page in context, what words you use and what words you use with those words. From that it has a better idea about what the page is about and who you are.
3. Display your address details and telephone number and any other information that adds ‘proof’ that you are real, including names. Don’t use 0845 numbers or PO boxes, it defeats the object.
4. Put effort into spreading yourself around. Industry Forums and White Paper submissions to relevant sources, etc. It sounds like hard work but it builds trust to you. Back-links from your profile on a Forum post or Blog Comment (to your website) with intelligent commentary will start gaining you credibility on-line. It may not turn into work but it builds trust and improves your visibility.
   • One thing the search engines like when ranking your site is quality inbound links so be careful where you post. This also applies to outdated link exchange programmes - it may do you more harm than good.
5. Be trustworthy - think genuine and have a little patience - it may take up to a year to get things rolling!

I haven’t fully digested this article yet and I think it’s one for the legal team to organise but through the Campaign Monitor Blog, I was pointed to this article about UK legal requirements for websites which in turn sent me to this more comprehensive article: "The UK’s E-commerce Regulations" on out-law.com:

The Register states:

Companies in the UK must include certain regulatory information on
their websites and in their email footers before 1 January 2007 or they
will breach the Companies Act and risk a fine.

I know that with e-mails, these are regarded as business communications so have the same stipulation as a company letterhead and for limited companies must include your registered address and company registration number, ie:

The Escape Design Co. Ltd registered in England No. 3523822. Reg. Address: Loddon Business Centre, Roentgen Road, Basingstoke RG24 8NG, UK

As for websites it is worth bearing the following next post in mind.

Mani Sheriar says realise the standards hype and make semantic layouts your first priority… at Vitamin.

Great article for the intermediate to advanced web-head

Send a message using the shapes of buildings from Google Earth - geoGreeting!

Link from Search Engine Land

BT just connected their 10 millionth customer to Broadband, reports the BBC.

About four years ago they had predicted only 5 million users by the end of 2006. Increased competition in price and better technology have been attributed for the increase.

This comes on a day when ITV have announced that they will stream ITV1 live and make 1,000 hours of archive
programmes plus the last 30 days’ transmissions freely available
on-demand. Ref. E-Consultancy

After the rubbish that was on at Christmas, could this mark the beginning of the end for TV as we know it!

From Springwise, a celebration of style and design in their article:

Top 10 style & design business ideas in 2006

The web has changed, the power has shifted to YOU. Yes, you!

The BBC report on how Web users will change in 2007:

The focus on users and online communities will continue in 2007 said Kathy Johnson from Consort Partners - a Silicon Valley-based firm that advises start-ups targeting the so-called Web 2.0 space.

The big trend among hot web companies will be the "actualisation of personalisation" she says. By that  mouthful she means web firms will find a way to mine the information generated when net communities spring up.

That following the Time Person of the Year 2006 - You!

But look at 2006 through a different lens and you’ll see another story. It’s a story about
community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It’s about
the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel
people’s network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It’s about
the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for
nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change
the way the world changes.

Rob pointed me to this article about the Max Planck Institute logo that is always evolving:

Using The Game of Life
as its basis, the logo takes the following factors into account in
rendering the logo: number of employees = density, funding = speed,
number of publications = activity.