Latest Trends

How to target your audience through Email Marketing

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow we are continuously striving to find new ways to help market your business. One of the most popular ways to market web content is via email, with a recent survey stating that 82% of business professionals opt for email marketing over social media to successfully boost their brand. This research means that email is still currently leading the way for digital marketing in spite of the growing popularity of Facebook, Twitter and other sites, with only 66% relying on social media to reach the targets they require. In the guide below, we will offer you tips on how to market your company via email.

 

  • To begin with, be sure to send any emails from a professional email or company email address, don’t send from your personal account. If you don’t yet have one, make sure this is set up first. It’s normally good to include a brand logo also.

 

  • A welcome email is always a good start, something that thanks your customers for being part of your business, or even an incentive such as a deal or discount to make signing up worth their while, allowing them to pass this on to potential new customers.

 

  • Talk to your subscribers and let them know what they can expect from the email or newsletter, whether this might be a letter from your CEO, business updates, deals, promos or advertisements.

 

  • When writing your newsletter, make sure that it correctly represents you or your brand, fitting in with any house styles for writing web content, adding images that fit in with your business, website or logo.

 

  • Keep it short and sweet, use text that is concise and easy for readers to skim through if needed, nobody wants to read through an entire essay. Make sure your content is appealing and speaks out to an audience relevant to your business.

 

  • Keep your emails regular and send on a specific date to avoid confusion. Research what days and times of the week you feel would be best to target your clients or customers.

 

  • Make sure emails are mobile friendly and can be read on any device. A high amount of clients and working professionals will access their emails from their phones so make sure that your newsletters are compatible, similar to how your website is.

 

  • Check your text, avoid using special characters, writing in caps & sending across broken links, remember to write subject headers that make sense. These tips should help you stave off heading directly into the spam folder. Spam filters can pick up on minor issues such as these and can automatically stop your emails from reaching your customers.

 

  • There are several email marketing services you can use to help do the job for you. MailChimp, Constant Contact or CoffeeCup are all worth a look.

How Project Loon is Providing Internet Access to the World’s Most Rural Communities

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow we make sure we’re always ahead of the game when it comes to the latest tech and web trends. We’re always on the look out for great stories, updates and info relating to the world of tech. Recently in the news, we stumbled across a great little project named Loon.

 

Originating as a research project from X (previously Google X) in 2011, Loon LLC helps provide internet access to rural and remote parts of countries across the globe. The project works by placing high-altitude balloons in to the stratosphere at altitudes of roughly 18km to provide an aerial wireless network that citizens can access in some of the most cut-off areas in the world. As of July 2018, Loon has since changed hands and is now owned as a separate company by Alphabet Inc. The project was named “Loon” originally after Google stated the concept of the project was near to impossible, referring to it as “loony” but it’s had a remarkable impact on many communities so far.

 

 

Each Loon balloon is constructed from polyethylene and when launched, can produce internet coverage to areas across 2,000 square miles. The balloons are capable of staying active for many months before needing assistance or alterations and they’re a perfect option for areas with hazardous terrain that disallows the construction of tower networks. In a recent interview with WIRED Loon CEO Alastair Westgarth discussed the quality of the internet access communities would receive, stating “You would have no concept that it was a different signal, you’re just getting a standard LTE 4G signal, from the balloon.”

 

 

 

With sites already in Puerto Rico, Brazil, Sri Lanka and New Zealand, Loon’s next stop is Kenya. The company are set to work alongside Telkom as part of a commercial project to provide internet access to areas of central Kenya as of 2019. This new venture hopes to help connect citizens of the country living far out from the city center where internet coverage is vastly limited. The potential for this project is huge, and we’ll hopefully be seeing a lot more Loon programs cropping up all over the globe in the near future, with hundreds of communities being able to gain access to the web.

 

(Images:Courtesy of LoonLLC/EEESpectrum)

Facebook’s New Tool to Help Cut Down on Social Media

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow, we’re constantly striving to make sure we’re ahead of the game when it comes to having the most up to date tech and web info. If you’ve been keeping an eye on the latest social media news, you may be aware that there’s been some concerns on the overuse of sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Facebook’s currently leading the way for change on this matter, and has recently taken steps to allow users to monitor how much time they are spending on the site.

The social media kings have rolled out new app tools that allow users to keep a watchful eye on how much time they are spending on Facebook. It will also enable users to set time limits for using the site to prevent them from overusing it on a daily basis.

The aptly named ‘Your Time on Facebook’ will use a live counter to calculate and show users the minutes or hours spent using Facebook from day to day. You can also set up and receive notifications to let you know when you’re about to reach your daily limit, to allow you to be more in control of your social media usage.

Facebook’s new changes have come about due to recent fears of people overusing social media to such an extent it is impacting their lives. The company hope that these alterations will allow for more meaningful and engaging interactions when users go online, instead of just endlessly scrolling through posts.

We’re all a bit guilty of that though… Perhaps give the new app a try and see how it works for you!

 

 

10 Free WordPress Marketing Plug-ins That Are A Must Have For Your Business

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow we’re all about knowing what’s best for your business, whether it’s design, branding, SEO or marketing. And when it comes to getting you your perfect website, we know exactly how to get you there. We’re huge advocates of WordPress, and we believe they have the tools to really launch your brand towards profit. Below is a list of 10 of the best WordPress marketing plug-ins that are a must have for your business site.

With WordPress you can take away the hassle of creating lengthy marketing plans, by using their plug-ins to create new strategies and interact with others at the press of a button. They’re ideal whether you’re a small, local business or a nationwide company and there’s plenty to choose from. We’ve narrowed down what we think will help you the most.

Jetpack

Great design, marketing and security features. Comes with customisation tools, mobile integration and options to edit CSS. You can also access SEO and Ad tools, and monitor your stats and statistics to see how well your site is performing. There’s also security extras for spam and malware protection.

Yoast

The number 1 plug-in for SEO, Yoast gives you complete power over how you use and access site breadcrumbs, with great tips and templates for title and meta descriptions which you can edit and alter for better branding and snippets in Google and other search engines.

WooCommerce

An open source e-commerce plug-in for WordPress, WooCommerce lets you sell both physical and digital products online, with ease to use shipping and payment options including BACS and PayPal. Adaptable for both developers and beginners, it’s perfect for store owners, whether your business is large, small, local or worldwide.

WPReview

This little plugin helps you create reviews or testimonials with ease, without any problems loading your page or alterations to site speed. You can create reviews with a choice of using stars, percentage or a point rating. It also includes support for translation, WPMU, Google rich snippets and unlimited colours.

Google XML SiteMaps

Rated as the best ever WordPress plug-in, Google XML SiteMaps helps improve SEO and allows search engines including Google, Bing and Yahoo to index you site more clearly. This makes sure your business is on the map when it comes to web traffic and will help move you up in search rankings.

Editorial Calendar

If you need a bit of help getting yourself organised when it comes to posts and marketing, the Editorial Calendar is a handy extra. You can create helpful schedules for when you want your posts to be published, with easy to use drag and drop features and an easily visible calendar to help you keep track.

W3 Total Cache

This plug-in aids website performance and boosts download times through content delivery network (CDN) integration and is recommended by web developers and web designers worldwide. It vastly improves conversion rates, and in turn helps boost your rankings on Google

Google Analytics by MonsterInsights

If you’re wanting to link your WordPress site to Google Analytics to manage site conversions, this plug-in by MonsterInsights is the way to go. It shows you stats, site performance and how easy people are accessing your webpage and products. You can access the Google Analytics dashboard inside your WordPress dashboard also.

Envira Gallery

Envira is a “drag and drop” photo gallery plug-in, great for sites that are using a lot of hi-def photography or product images. Envira will ensure your images will look great on all devices whether it desktop, mobile or tablet. There’s also great options for watermarking your work, creating video and slideshow galleries and linking with social media platforms.

Popups by OptinMonster

OptinMonster helps you grow your email list and get more subscribers with pop-up opt-in forms, templates and email marketing services. Take your pick from forms, floating bars, slide-ins, sidebars and more, this nifty plug-in is compatible and works alongside many popular email marketing sites including Mailchimp, Aweber, MailPoet and many more.

 

GDPR and The Launch of WordPress 4.9.6

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow we’re all about knowing what’s best for your business, whether it’s trending tech news, the latest updates, design tips or marketing tactics. And when it comes to getting you your perfect website, we pride ourselves on making sites that are both manageable and secure.

Following the launch of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation laws (GDPR) which began May 25, WordPress have made some important updates to privacy and maintenance options for site users. GDPR requires businesses or web page owners to be clear and upfront about how they’re using, collecting or sharing your personal data. It also means users have more choice and control over how their data is stored and shared.

Due to this, WordPress have decided to release WordPress 4.9.6 – the Privacy and Maintenance release. Features that can be found within the update include automatic changes to the comments section where users will be given options to whether their details will be saved on the browser. You can now also create a privacy policy page using a new default menu feature on the WordPress dashboard.

Although allowing for a speedier process, WordPress still recommends to add the privacy policy manually to the footer on each page of your website also. Webpage owners can also export or erase a clients data and send automatic requests asking for permission via email. WordPress have also created a handbook that guides you through privacy policies when using plug-ins which you can learn more about here.

95 other updates and modifications have been included in WordPress 4.9.6. including:

  • “Mine” included as a filter in the media library.

  • When displayed in admin, plugin-ins will now show the minimal PHP version required.

  • New PHP polyfills for forwards-compatibility and proper variable validation have been added.

  • TinyMCE updated to newest version (4.7.11).

Take a look at the WordPress site here to read up on the more in depth details on all the updates included.

 

Get the Party Started and Celebrate the WordPress 15th Anniversary on May 27th

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow, we love all things WordPress. It’s free, open source, available in 69+ languages with over 50,000 plugins. I mean, what’s not to love? Over the years the popularity of WordPress has grown immensely. W3Techs reports that WordPress now powers over 30% of sites on the web. And it’s no wonder when they have such great extras on offer.

On May 27th, WordPress with be celebrating its 15th anniversary of WP’s original release, and they’re holding a worldwide party, which you’re all invited to. To get involved, check out the WordPress 15th Anniversary website and find out whether there’s a party you and your mates can tag along to nearby, and RSVP to the event.

If there isn’t, then why not get cracking at setting one up yourself? Brighton has a huge creative network when it comes to design, and whether you’re a developer, copywriter or graphic designer, we all have one thing in common – we’d all rather swap a day at the office for an afternoon spent in one of Brighton’s many beer gardens. So why not get involved and get posting about your very own WordPress Birthday Party.

You can even get yourself some special 15th anniversary WordPress swag. In tribute to the anniversary, WordPress have added a money off code CELEBRATEWP15 to get 15% off all accessories till the end of 2018. So whether you end up hosting your own WordPress party, bake a WordPress cake or even just get your hands on lots of cool new merch, make sure you get posting using the #WP15 hashtag online to help celebrate WordPress worldwide.

 

Google Hints on Gmail Update and Improvements

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the hottest tech trends and web news. With technology and techniques developing daily, we’ll make sure you’re getting the latest info on what’s happening in the world of web.

Google has recently revealed that it will be making new updates and changes to its Gmail service. Although an official date has not been set for the release, sources have hinted that an unveiling may happen during Google’s yearly developers conference, which will be hosted this year on May 8th. The company has previously revealed upcoming developments at similar events.

Remaining fairly ambiguous with their announcement, Google are yet to clearly define exactly what changes and improvements we can expect to see. However, in a recent report from Android Authority, they have indicated towards ‘draft phase’ changes that we might be able to expect, including a feature for “snoozing” emails, “smart reply” options and other additional features that can already be found in the Gmail mobile app. The makeover seems to include a shift in making the browser version match up with its little brother app.

Although seemingly in its early stages, a launch of Gmail’s new updates are no doubt clearly in sight, and we can hopefully look forward to some handy web browser improvements headed our way in the near future.

 

 

Fancy Being a Dog For a Day? Google Japan Will Show You How

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow we make sure we’re always ahead of the game when it comes to the latest tech and web design trends. And this week we just loved finding out about Google Japan’s cute new edition to Google Street View.

Launching just over a decade ago, Google’s Street View has become a well known feature of both Google Maps and Google Earth. After its arrival in the USA in 2007, it soon spread worldwide, presenting panoramic views of streets, cities and rural landscapes from countries worldwide.

We’ve all become engrossed in the world of Google Earth at one point or another, whether it’s getting a glimpse of what it’s like to roam the paths of countries we’re yet to visit, or even just seeing what other homes and towns are like in nearby areas when planning to move (you can now even tour Disneyland from the comfort of your sofa) So it’s fair to say a reasonable amount of fun can be had with the feature.

However, in recent news, Google Japan have managed to trump all of its attributes to date – by adding a version from the viewpoint of a dog. That’s right – an adorable trio of Akita pups named Asuko, Ako and Pu. Now traditionally, Google’s Street View has been filmed using specialist cameras designed in house with images captured by car, however now it’s time for our favourite four-legged friends to take the lead.

Google’s tech team have developed a device suitable for the pups whilst out exploring, a small camera that comes attached to a soft harness the dogs can wear. A video released earlier on Google Japan’s YouTube Channel shows a guided tour led by the dogs themselves starting off in Odate City, the place of origin for the Akita dog breed.

Mapping out the city with a few of the dog’s favourite hotspots, the video takes you on a first hand doggy guide to Odate, including a stop off point to the Akita dog museum and a view of the city’s famous statue of Hachiko. You can take a look at the footage from Google Japan here!

 

7 Reasons Why You Should Choose WordPress to Host Your Website

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the latest web developments and web design trends. Our job is to seek out the best in high quality web hosting, security and SEO awareness. When it comes to choosing a platform for your hosting, WordPress ranks higher than any other hosting service. Below are our 7 reasons why WordPress is top of the leaderboard.

Deciding on a platform to host your website is one of the first points to consider when getting started in creating a new or updated site. The platform we think ranks above all the rest is WordPress. This open-source CMS works as an ideal model for creating a wide variety of sites for both small and large businesses, ranging from e-commerce to blog based designs. Still not convinced? Well here’s our reasons why…

It’s popular

WordPress sites account for over 25% of sites on the web, with 1.1 million new domains being created every 6 months. The incredibly popular platform is even available in 62 different languages, making it accessible to businesses worldwide.

It’s beginner friendly

WordPress is easy to use, even if you haven’t had much experience. It allows you to add pages, blog posts, text and widgets at the click of a button. Even if your site is being professionally designed, it will be easy for you to make additional changes or touch ups yourself.

You’ve got access to tons of Themes and Plug-ins

WordPress guarantees access to a huge variety of themes and plug-ins compared to other sites. No matter what your business or blog, they have themes to suit all. From Jetpack, Yoast, Revslider to Woocommerce and Mailchimp, there are so many options to help improve your site.

It’s highly secure

WordPress core software is highly protected and comes with access to great plug-ins such as Wordfence to give you extra defences alongside firewall and malware scans. WordPress also offer plenty of guides and tips to keep you secure savvy.

It will improves your rankings

WordPress genuinely has the ability to help you rank higher in search engines. “WordPress” is searched 2,740,000 times every month, making it one of the highest searched keywords on Google. And WordPress has plenty of great SEO plug-ins and built-in features to optimize each page on your website.

It’s known for its great support

Need help? WordPress has a great technical support team on hand to help with any customer queries you may have. Their engineers offer first rate customer support and quick fixes to any technical issues, and you can access their support services easily online.

No.1 for media

If you’re wanting a website that can handle a multitude of different media content, WordPress handles images, audio, video and plenty more with ease, making it simple to upload and insert content when writing a post or a page.

SEO Tips and Trends for 2018

Posted on | by moocow

At Moocow, we pride ourselves on having the most up to date knowledge on the hottest tech trends and web design news. With 2017 over, it’s time to take stock on what we’ve learnt over the past year and get ready for what the new year has in store for the world of SEO. Take a look at our advice below and get ahead of the game with essential SEO tips and trends for 2018.

Voice Search

Voice search is becoming increasingly popular with a surge in voice search and smart speaker sales. Both Amazon Echo and Google Home have become household favourites. Marketers feel voice search has a higher ability to analyse what shoppers are looking for specifically when compared with traditional search options.

Keyword Planning

When it comes to keyword planning it can be hard to get accurate advice without paying for help such as through Google Analytics Keyword Planner. Up your game when choosing good keywords by using free tools such as Moz’s Keyword Explorer tool. This can help you to get accurate information that can rank the best keywords to target relevant to your business.

Optimising Titles and Meta Descriptions

You can optimise Titles and Meta Descriptions on your web pages by ensuring things such as correct word length, correct keyword usage and making sure your keywords are featured in your tags and URL. This way they are more likely to rank higher in search engine results.

Keep Up To Date

Be sure to keep social media channels up to date and produce and publish new content weekly. Make sure content is of your best quality, is descriptive but gets the point across easily, and is enjoyable for your audience to read. Be sure to use relevant keywords and use both external and internal links to relevant content.

Link Building

Link building, when used correctly and adheres to a specific budget, can be extremely beneficial to SEO. Networking with other companies can be extremely beneficial to landing you “guest spots” or social media takeovers on as many public and published sites as possible.