AVIF (AV1 Image File Format):

AVIF is an open-source image format derived from the AV1 video codec, introduced in 2018. It provides superior compression efficiency, achieving 30–50% better compression than its predecessors without compromising visual quality. This results in smaller file sizes, leading to faster website loading times and reduced bandwidth consumption. Additionally, AVIF supports advanced features like high dynamic range (HDR) imaging, wide color gamut, transparency, and animation, making it versatile for various web applications. (Medium)

WebP:

Developed by Google, WebP is an image format that offers both lossy and lossless compression. It generally provides better compression than JPEG for lossy images and PNG for lossless images, resulting in smaller file sizes. WebP also supports transparency (alpha channel) and animation, similar to GIFs but with improved compression. Its widespread support across major browsers like Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Opera makes it a practical choice for web developers aiming to optimise image loading times. (Gee-Tech)

Comparing AVIF and WebP:

While both AVIF and WebP enhance web performance through efficient compression, AVIF often surpasses WebP in terms of compression efficiency and image quality. However, AVIF may require more processing power for encoding and decoding, and its browser support, though growing, is currently less extensive than WebP’s. Therefore, the choice between AVIF and WebP should consider factors like desired image quality, file size, browser compatibility, and encoding/decoding performance. (Cloudinary)

Conclusion:

Adopting modern image formats like AVIF and WebP can significantly enhance website performance by reducing image file sizes without sacrificing quality. This leads to faster loading times and an improved user experience. As browser and application support for these formats continues to expand, they are becoming increasingly viable options for web developers and designers seeking to optimise digital content delivery.

Furthermore, websites built by ib3 will automatically serve the best image format based on the user’s environment. This means you will have the best speed of loading optimisation, without any compromise to the quality of your images.

Why not get in touch today and find out how we can help you to fully engage with both your existing customers and target audience alike.

Start

To start with, there is of course the planning. This was covered in an earlier blog so, if you’d like to know more, follow that link! Once the planning has been undertaken and the outcomes agreed, the creativity can begin.

Brand Guidelines: Understanding what is allowed sets our designers expectations on creative freedom. Strict guidelines set out a defined route in which we can take. The benefit of this is a clear, consistent approach when delivering the end product. Creative freedom still exists, but with certain restrictions. With less-strict guidelines, different creative routes can be undertaken. Colour, typeface and imagery can all be experimented with in order to produce outstanding print. Clarity from the beginning of any print project is vital to it’s success. Guidelines don’t have to be one hundred page documents covering every detail, they can be small, concise documents standardising certain elements of your business.

We work with clients with both of the above guidelines, so we are perfectly placed to advise on all print projects no matter the size.

Target: Who is the target audience for the project? Is it a business card for a client? Who reads this internal newsletter? Is it a B2B brochure? Understanding and highlighting the intended recipient can impact the design of print. Designing with a recipient in mind can alter the flow of information, the imagery used and the look and feel in the paper quality and finish (I will cover the options on these later on) If it’s a printed piece intended for use in new sales pitches or for existing clients, then budget dependent, more complex finishes may be used to showcase and highlight your business from the competition.

Call to action: This is the imperative in any creative work. What do you want people to do with the card, brochure or leaflet? Are the correct and most important contact details readily available for the recipient? Pretty design and bold colours are great, but so what if there is no action at the end? Don’t be sucked in to “fluffy” project that don’t deliver what you set out to achieve.

Layout: Interaction is extremely important. How information, data and imagery flows has a direct impact on the success of print. We place a lot of focus and effort into the layout part of our projects. Balancing creative layout with user experience is a fantastic skill. Engaging with the recipient and adding value is what all outstanding brochures, leaflets and catalogues deliver. Interaction can come from folds, cuts, and flaps. They don’t have to be standard booklets. That’s where our experience comes in.

Colour: This is a whole other area! Michelle, our senior design took a look about what different colours mean and how it can impact your image. It is this attention to detail and understanding that goes into all of our colour suggestions.

Me too: Don’t be this. Be different!

Finish

Finally, what is your design going to be printed on? With all of the above in mind, what is going to get the most out of the artwork?

We think about stock. Gloss, matt, silk or uncoated. Which stock reflects your business identity and the message that you are trying to get across?

We think about weight. Imagine the different impressions you get when a potential client gives a flimsy 200gsm business card versus a luxurious heavy-weight 600gsm card. Always aim to impress.

What do the different finishes deliver?

Lamination: Silk lamination provides a soft, silk-like finish, is water-resistant, is tear-resistant, and complements vibrant colours. The effect could be glossy, matt, or satin.

Varnishes: A varnish is a liquid coating applied to a printed surface to add a clear glossy, matte, satin, or neutral finish. UV (ultraviolet varnishing is a process for achieving an even more striking coating.

Varnishes can be used through-out or as a  ‘spot UV varnish’ where the varnish is applied to chosen areas to highlight or drawn attention to parts of the design

Embossing/debossing: Embossing creates a raised impression on the stock, debossing creates a depressed impression. It leaves a classy subtle effect that is seen on both the front and back of the stock.

Foil: A foil layer is bonded to a certain material by a heating process. Foil comes in many block, metallic and pearlescent colours.

Die-cutting: Die-cut involves cutting irregular shapes out of paper or board using a die. Due to sheer number of options available, dies are normally custom made, but printers usually have some standard dies (such as for rounded corners).

Letterpress: A surface with raised letters or pattern is inked and pressed down to reproduce an image in reverse on the material (think of a glamorous version of potato printing!)

Silk screening: A technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil. The stencil forms opens areas of mesh that allows the ink to transfer through to the paper or board.

To conclude, there is a lot of thought and creativity that can go into print projects. So, why settle for something that will just end up in the recycle bin?

Thanks for reading,

Frank 
frank@ib3.uk

So, how does effective PR work and what can it mean for your organisation? I’m going to look at the following areas: corporate identity, communication and media management.

Corporate Identity

How do you want your business to be perceived? How is it being perceived? Two very different questions. Hopefully they should have the same answer, but if not, why? Corporate identity is a very broad subject matter. So, let’s look at breaking it down further. For simplicity, lets split it into two parts, brand and reputation.

Branding is not just logo and colour pallet. It’s messaging, graphic impact and most importantly a visual embodiment of your business. Your brand should be aligned to your business mission and offering. This element of corporate identity is extremely important. It needs to be consistent, aligned and unique. After all, it is this brand that will be on every single piece of communication to every single stakeholder. You must be confident in what you have. A good brand can be advertised without directly referring to products and services.

Great brands partner great reputations. Take a moment to think about your personal reputation and that of the business. How people see your business, as mentioned before, is of vital importance. If you have a fantastic reputation, great, use it to your advantage, sing from the roof tops. Customer service, product quality, lead time, personable employees, expert professionals. Whatever your reputation is based on, let people know! It’s no good keeping these things a secret, it’s an asset, just not on your balance sheet!

But what about bad reputations. Be honest, be clear and be quick to put it right. Don’t hide it away. Hidden problems can grow and before you know it can take over! ‘We know that we have had problem x, but we know that we have strength y, so we are going to do z’. Respect can be earned from an accountable and proactive approach. Denial is dangerous, accountability is advised!

Communication

Effective communication is powerful.  Again, communication is a very broad term, so let’s break it down. There are two elements to talk about, channels and tone. I’m not meaning to oversimplify, but touch upon two important parts.

How do you communicate with your stakeholders? With multiple online and offline platforms, selecting the most effective channels can be tough. Firstly, research is important. Ask people, read reports and gain analytical insight. Understand how you can best reach your target audience. Is it social media or a trade magazine? Is it email or phone? Or is it everything all of the time? Without meaning to sound like a broken record, be consistent across the channels. Set clear campaign guidelines and a strong implementation plan. After that, monitor. Learn from what’s happening and make the next campaign even better!

Each channel that you communicate through will have very different measurements of success. From click through rates (PPC) opens (email) impressions (social) readership (print) be clear on what success means for you.

Tone is another important factor. Broken record time again, consistency! Writing copy isn’t an easy skill for everyone and creating a tone of voice is a skill. Does your tone of voice reflect your brand? Does your brand reflect your business? It’s all linked. Think about the perception of a corporate juggernaut vs an entrepreneurial start up. Branding may be very different. Colour usage, taglines and logos would probably showcase a different offering. When you think about tone of voice, it most certainly would be different! There are multiple intricacies and nuances to tone of voice when creating copy, all of which can convey a very different message to the reader. Make sure your copy reflects you in the manner that you want it to.

Media Management

Planned vs reactive. There can be two simple ways about how you manage your media plan. Firstly, planning throughout the year to hit important events in the channels you wish to engage in. This allows you to get your resources in order and also may give you more leverage in negotiating costs. Whether it’s advertising space in a trade magazine or an editorial on a digital platform.

Understanding what times of the year to focus on and what events to back is another element to consider. Make sure that you pick the events and times that suits you best. Don’t true to shoehorn your business into dates that there is little synergy with. Take a look at my previous blog for more information and insight.

Reactive media management is a way to make the most of opportunities that present themselves in the short term. Think about media articles, major news stories or industry trends that can really accommodate your business. Applying short term PPC campaigns, social media campaigns and other digital tools can ensure that you make the most of these small windows of opportunity. Think about those channels that you can get content out there quickly and to the right audience.

So, there is a whistle stop tour of PR (very condensed I know, but hopefully gives you an introduction into the service.

If you want to know more about how ib3 can help with your Public Relations, please get in touch.

Thanks for reading,

Frank

frank@ib3.uk
07850 729444

Research is king

Before you spend a penny on a new website or a new all singing, all dancing social media manager, do your homework. What do I want to achieve? How do your clients communicate with you? What do you want potential customers to do when they find you? Should you outsource to an agency? If so, who? What on earth is PPC and SEO; what’s the difference? What is the best journal to advertise in? All valid questions and the list goes on! Research is the first step in your quest for marketing success and it is vital before commencing. Now with all of your basic information in place, you can begin to finalise strategy and build budgets. Now I’m not saying for one second this is where research should end, it’s a continuous process. If you decide to outsource to an agency, make sure they know what they’re on about! As part of our service at ib3, we are always talking to new suppliers, media outlets and evaluating online and printed publications. Our experience takes the hassle, time and cost out of researching. When it comes to media planning, we are experts. We are here to help and advise you on where to spend your budget and all other good agencies should do the same. Be smart and remember, knowledge is power!

£20,000 of tweets please and forget the rest

Following on from your research, it should give you a good idea of what you want to spend your money on. So hopefully, you won’t have put all of your eggs in one basket. As a multi-channel agency, we understand the importance of balance. You’re not going to reach all of your target audience on twitter or in just one journal. Make sure that you have sufficient budget for the most effective communications channels to ensure your voice is heard. Print isn’t dead and social media isn’t the saviour. Each channel has it’s strengths and weaknesses. It’s about finely tuning a plan that works for you.

I am not spending a penny more

No business has an endless source of budget, so flexibility (within reason) is a vital. With this in mind you must be able to react quickly to trends within your marketing campaign. Responding to market signals is key to successful marketing campaigns. If you see exponential growth following a printed journal add, explore it more. Maybe social media isn’t generating the business that everyone said it would. Don’t be afraid to tinker and adjust throughout the campaign. This is where all good agencies should be able to help. Yes, not all platforms and channels have deep routed ROI analysis available, but a lot do. Agencies should be able to review, advise and help adjust budgets to meet your goals throughout the campaign. Take PPC for example, a constant review of analytics and search terms can transform poorly performing campaigns, to triumphant victories!

I have £5.90, now take me to the top of google

Realism. Yes, we all would like to spend nothing and get everything, but is it possible? Not really! This is where carefully formed objectives can be worth their weight in gold. It all comes back to your first research questions, what do you want to achieve? We’ve all heard of SMART objectives, but just check, are the objectives of your campaign specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time specific? If not, take time to review.

To summarise, do your research and ensure your agency are doing theirs; look at your options; be flexible and most of all, be realistic. Here at ib3, we have years of experience of managing client budgets and ensuring all communication channels are utilised. We want every penny you spend to contribute to the success of your campaign.

Thanks for reading,

Adam

LinkedIn
Twitter

I believe this quote comes from a man named Red Adair, an American oil well fire-fighter who pioneered the highly specialised profession of extinguishing and capping oil well blowouts.

Adair was obviously an expert in his field and set his price accordingly. He understood that his knowledge and experience had an inherent value that would save someone money, if they would allow him to do the job right the first time.

Most of us don’t take this simple advice until it is too late and after thousands of pounds have been probably been wasted.

Coming back to the topic, I always think of our first PPC (Pay-Per-Click) client who proudly stated that being a Google Partner was a “waste of time” and not “being worth the paper that it’s written on”.

Wordstream reinforces this by claiming that having a driving licence doesn’t make you a good driver. They are, of course, trying to sell their software though!

Who would you trust more, a driver with or without a licence?

Google Adwords Certification shows that you have an interest in the subject, that you are willing to learn and that you at least have the basic understanding of the subject.

I have seen so many PPC campaigns run by smart, intelligent people who make huge mistakes in thinking that were saving themselves money. In reality, unless you know what you are looking for, you may never realise where the budget is being wasted. People often don’t value, what they don’t understand.

• Being a Google Partner is just the start of the journey. It provides the foundation to expand your knowledge and gives confidence to your clients that their budgets are in safe hands.
• Being a Google Partner means that you have to meet spending and performance requirements and that you meet Google’s standard for best practices.
• Google Partners with a large spend have direct support from Google to help with unexpected problems.
• Google Partners take exams in Adwords Fundamentals, Search, Display, Shopping, Video and Mobile Advertising. Partners also receive free training to be able to maintain best practices.
  (You can have your Partners status removed if standards are not maintained.)
• By working with a certified Google Partner you can be sure you’re getting a high level of value from their services.

ib3 is a Google Partner and we do make a difference.

To find out how we can help you make a difference, call Frank today on 01892 559121 or via email at frank@ib3.uk.

Here are just some of the things that we do behind the scenes to ensure your website or application stays online:

Centralised Error Reporting

If your project encounters a problem, we know about it. Immediately.

Let’s say, in a totally hypothetical scenario, Russian hackers attack key parts of the internet infrastructure and take down Twitter and Facebook. Imagine also that your website connects to various social networks to grab recent entries to display on some of your pages. With third party services outside of our control and your website trying to talk to them, well, you can see where a problem might arise. In a recent case (which has an uncanny resemblance to our hypothetical one) our reporting systems quickly alerted us to potential issues that we might otherwise have been unaware of. Armed with this information, we were able to improve the way in which we connect to third party services and mitigate the immediate problems and any future disruption for our clients.

Your customer clicked a link and got an error page? We already know and are looking at exactly what happened and why and are likely already implementing a fix.

Our centralised dashboard is accessible to all of our developers, with each project having its own dedicated area where we can easily isolate anything outstanding, assign, resolve and report on issues.

Backed by Rackspace, 24×7

Your project won’t be sitting on a dusty server under Steve’s desk.

All of our websites and applications are hosted by Rackspace UK and are guaranteed with pretty serious SLAs. Their fancy data centers sport banks of servers, redundant arrays of hard drives and a guaranteed 100% up-time for networking, power and air-con.

While we snooze during the wee hours dreaming about your next project, the Rackspace techs (the “Rackers”) are on hand to jump to the rescue should an issue arise with the infrastructure or the software running on it. Not just when we’re out of the office either, they are on hand all day, every day. Sometimes we call them on Christmas Day just to make sure they’re not fibbing.

All this means we can focus on innovative solutions for your project and let Rackspace manage the infrastructure behind it.

Cloud Based

Your project is hosted in The Cloud. Look up, can you see it?

As your project grows, we can dynamically scale up your hosting solution to fit. Need more memory? It’s a click of a button. Add an extra cluster of servers in Chicago to cope with the demand, a secondary fail-over database in Hong Kong, a sprinkle of Load Balancers in Sydney, perhaps? Maybe you don’t need all that quite just yet, but with the Cloud comes great flexibility and we’re ready for when you do.

Frequent Backups

Lovely, frequent, Cloud Based, offsite, encrypted backups, to be precise.

Accidents happen. Who hasn’t logged in to their Content Management Systems and accidentally deleted everything on a Friday afternoon? Our backup systems ensure your data is safe: databases, website files, uploads, content, photos of your cat, it’s all there waiting to be restored should the worst happen.

We’re Looking Out for You

A problem shared is a problem doubled.

We’re always looking out for your best interests, in most cases even after office hours; whether that be by dedicated employees with no home life or an eager Racker the other side of the pond. We’re only ever a phone call or email away too, should you wish to discuss any issues with us. We’re a friendly bunch really.

Sound like something your next project should be a part of? Talk to us today and see how we can help.

It’s a daunting task building a brand, getting noticed in a crowded marketplace and turning interest into sales. I believe successful business owners have always put their personality into their business.

Imagine the guy on the market stall who shouts out “come and get your apples, two for a £1, nice and round”. You noticed him because he is confidently shouting out (literally) and even managing to make it rhyme! Better still he noticed you notice him. He may have spoken to you directly across the market place, commented on your lovely scarf and tried to build a rapport with you.

You’ve got to buy your apples somewhere right? So why not from him? At this point you don’t even know if they are the best apples at the market and in truth if the owner plays it right, you may never find out. If he builds your customer relationship, you may never shop around. But there is more… so happy you are with your apples and the man who sold them to you, you begin to mention him to your friends and he then benefits from the holy grail of marketing, the thing that didn’t look like marketing at all: word-of-mouth! Trusted because it did not come directly from the man who stands to gain something.

As I write this I realise I’ve spent a fortune with the coffee seller in my local park for exactly the same reason. He’s part of the furniture, he remembers my name and the kids’ names. And all the other mums and all the other children, it’s incredible really. But you know what? Even if I do not remotely need or want a coffee, I always end up buying one. I follow him on Twitter and I tell people about what a nice guy he is… hmm I got marketed to so darn well that I am now doing his job for him!

But so what? Word of mouth, it is pretty slow isn’t it? It can’t really be harnessed can it? It is that genuine 1:1 meeting that made it happen, so it is impossible to scale up right? Wrong!

Ads on social channels that engage their audience and encourage them to comment, share UGC (User Generated Content) and importantly allow you to reply and show your brand personality again and again, create a sort of tail on that advert that follow it around. Now it isn’t just your ad that new customers see, but all the past happy customers saying “yes yes yes”, “I agree”, “I love this”, “These guys are so nice” and “I would never use anything else”.

In short, word of mouth is now digital! So when you are considering your next marketing campaign, consider how you will encourage public engagement from your customers or potential customers. You may just find that the engagement advert starts to convert a lot better than you had hoped.

The opportunities to benefit from word of mouth have never been so scalable or easy to monitor. Engagement that other potential customers can see matters because what other people say about you will always be viewed as more genuine than what you say about yourself.

Yes, it starts with a strong brand every bit as much as a great product. By this I mean the design and look but I also mean the soft stuff, the tone and the values, the grace with which the brand accepts success and deals with customer service issues. Because now when they comment on your company your entire audience can see it.

Ultimately, you can’t separate the quality of the product from the quality of the marketing. You may have something fantastic, but if it sits quietly on a website that no one sees then it won’t convert to sales no matter how good it is. Equally, if the marketing is fantastic but the product is of poor quality then you may get some great initial sales but you won’t be seeing repeat customers and the engagement you get, the tail of comments that follow your digital adverts around, may even hurt the brand. It is worth noting you can only delete so many negative comments before the chosen social media channel notices what you are doing and penalises you for it.

So, whilst we marketers believe that it is possible to sell anything to some of the population with the right marketing, we love working with the brands that have pride in their products, put their personality into the brand and love to collaborate on exiting marketing ideas.

To discuss how to get your brand noticed from the development of your website and branding to creative marketing campaigns, get in touch with ib3: The creative marketing communication agency.

Choosing colours for a design is scientific and goes beyond just personal preference – because colours have an extraordinary ability to influence mood, emotions, and perceptions; take on cultural and politic meaning; and attract attention, both consciously and subconsciously. This affect can be harnessed by designers and is used as one of the most successful tools in marketing.

“84.7% of consumers say that colour is the primary reason for buying a product and apparently this judgement is made in less than 90 seconds.”

Hungry for colour?

I have been interested in colour theory since studying Graphic Design at University when a speaker mentioned that red/orange tones make you feel hungry! This has always stuck in my mind. Apparently seeing the colour red & orange encourages appetite so you can see why some of the biggest food and fast food brands have chosen this colour. But I’m wondering which came first, the logos or the theory?

Put simply, colour choices can make or break a design. That’s where a basic understanding of colour theory can come in handy. In brief, these are the generally accepted colour theories:

RED

Red is the colour of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love.

Interesting fact: It has very high visibility and promotes a sense of urgency – so great for Warning signs, stop lights and Clearance sales.

ORANGE

Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.

Interesting facts: Orange increases oxygen supply to the brain, produces an invigorating effect, and stimulates mental activity. It is highly accepted among young people. Orange is associated with healthy food and stimulates appetite.

YELLOW

Yellow is the colour of sunshine. It’s associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy.

Yellow produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates muscle energy.

Interesting facts: Bright, pure yellow is an attention getter. When overused, yellow may have a disturbing effect; it is known that babies cry more in yellow rooms! Yellow is seen before other colours when placed against black; this combination is often used to issue a warning – Buzzzz!

GREEN

Green is the colour of nature. It symbolises growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Green has strong emotional correspondence with safety. Green is directly related to nature, so you can use it to promote ‘green’ products.

Interest facts: Green has great healing power. It is the most restful colour for the human eye; it can improve vision.

BLUE

Blue is the colour of the sky and sea. It is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolises trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. Blue is considered beneficial to the mind and body. It slows human metabolism and produces a calming effect. Blue is strongly associated with tranquility and calmness. Dark blue represents knowledge, power, integrity, and seriousness and so is big in the corporate world, very often the colour of choice for financial institutions.

Interesting facts: As it is opposite orange in the colour wheel, blue suppresses appetite. Blue M&M anyone?

PURPLE

Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. Purple is associated with royalty. It symbolises power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. It conveys wealth and extravagance. Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, and magic.

Interesting fact: According to surveys, almost 75 percent of pre-adolescent children prefer purple to all other colours.

WHITE

White is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. It is considered to be the colour of perfection. White means safety, purity, and cleanliness. As opposed to black, white usually has a positive connotation.

BLACK

Black is associated with power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery. Black is a mysterious colour associated with fear and the unknown (black holes). It usually has a negative connotation (blacklist, black humour, ‘black death’).

Interest fact that most people know: Black gives the feeling of perspective and depth and so a black suit or dress can make you look thinner.

To explore how ib3 can help refresh your company’s brand, or to discuss the creation of a new brand for your start-up, call Michelle for a chat today on 01732 449971.

Of course, this still happens today, and as a result there are now spam filters with over-zealous configurations on email systems all over the world looking for any excuse to stop your legitimate email from being delivered.

Ensuring that your clients receive that registration confirmation or password reset email is fraught with complexity and the possibility that the message may never arrive is very real. Perhaps worse still is the possibility that an order acknowledgement email or contact form submission destined for your inbox goes awry.

At ib3 towers, we clearly want to do everything we can to ensure that emails are delivered safely, so what are we doing to combat this problem?

Enter Mailgun.

As part of the Rackspace hosting solution that all of our customers benefit from, we use Mailgun. We are not email system administrators and we certainly aren’t familiar with every email client and server nuance and configuration. Mailgun are the experts here and by leveraging their expertise we can mitigate deliverability concerns while focusing on what we do best.

All emails sent from the websites we build are relayed through Mailgun systems and in return they provide us with the peace of mind that emails will arrive safely, as well as:

Automatic Management

Mailgun automatically manages the delivery process to give the emails we send the best chance of landing in the inbox.

Email Logging and Tracking

No more unknowns. Every email sent is logged and tracked.

It’s important that we know (and can prove) that emails are being sent from our systems and delivered to the recipient. We can monitor opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes and complaints from every email.

Verification with SPF and DKIM

We can do even more to ensure that your emails are delivered safely, by configuring SPF and DKIM on the DNS records for your domain.

Receiving email systems might look for records stored against the sending domain known as Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records. It sounds fancy, but they are essentially text records containing a whitelist of domains and IP addresses that are permitted to send email. If an email has been spoofed “from” @paypal.com, the SPF record for paypal.com is checked to make sure the IP address the email was sent from is permitted to do so.

With DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) when emails are sent, they are digitally signed with a super-secret private key known only to us (we don’t even tell our mums). A companion public key stored in the DNS records for your domain can then be used by email systems to verify that the from address is valid and that the email hasn’t been tampered with.

We can set all this up for you, so talk to us if you would like to utilise DNS based verification for your website emails.

For many of the benefits listed here, we also utilise third party services such as Campaign Monitor and MailChimp for sending beautifully crafted email marketing campaigns on behalf of our customers.

Using a simple web interface, users are able to install tracking tags for Google Analytics, Google AdWords and more. It’s not limited to Google products either; any third party tracking script or snippet can be installed through GTM and published with the click of a button and the minimum of fuss.

From a technical and maintenance standpoint it makes a lot of sense to have a single script installed on your website and have all other scripts and tags managed and stored in a central place within GTM. No more getting your web developers to insert (and later remove) that Clicky tracking snippet on all your pages, that extra analytics tag and that conversion monitoring script you wanted to try out on your checkout page.

GTM is a far more capable and powerful tool than that however. Want to track in Google Analytics how many people click that button on your page? Want to send an event to Google Analytics when someone submits a form or lands on a certain page? It’s all possible without needing to write a single line of code or changing the website. What’s more, any changes you make through GTM can be previewed and tested before publishing and even rolled back if necessary.

As a minimum we always install a Google Analytics tag on all our websites and newer websites benefit from a GTM installation too. 

If you website does not currently have GTM installed or you would like to find out more about what GTM and Google Analytics can do for you and your business, get in touch with one of our friendly developers who will be only too glad to help.