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Official – Google kills panda with a penguin

Well that was probably one of the oddest blog titles I have written in a while, however don’t fret, I am not in fact suggesting that our friendly internet search giant has engaged in some odd form of endangered species “Royal Rumble”, which was unexpectedly won by a particularly vengeful penguin, though that would be quite an exclusive for our blog.

Zoo-Tang Clan ain't nothin' to what?

However although everything I have written in my title is reasonably accurate, I’m afraid the whole truth is rather more mundane – but non the less all important for all of us folk with websites looking to market our wares on Google.

You may or may not know that Google’s last update to their algorithm (this is the code they use to determine search results) was called Panda. Panda focused on getting rid of poor content sites from it’s search results – in particular people who had just created specific landing pages for search terms, without backing this up with content on these pages, or relevant content elsewhere on the site.  It was pretty devastating for some firms who had been using older SEO (search engine optimization) techniques on their sites, however those that were being regularly updated with quality content generally fared quite well (like our SEO clients..!).

The Latest Penguin update continues this drive towards quality content. It’s defined and the “Page layout” algorithm, and penalizes sites with too many ads above the fold (in that main content area on a website when you first open it). It is a push towards getting more content to display on peoples websites – again something we implement as a matter of course for our clients, but I will stop blowing our trumpet here.

Basically is good news for all those folks doing ethical SEO, producing content, laying out site properly and basically keeping things genuinely interesting and not producing spam just to get to the top of the rankings. Luckily we are singing off the same hymn sheet, as we know the push towards quality content isn’t going to stop any time soon so you had best get on board. Right – I’m off for a spot of bear baiting for the weekend. Have fun y’all.

Cottesbrooke get a new garden design website they can really dig…

OK, an appalling pun. I’m not even sure it classes as funny, but after a long week thus far it’s all I have got left.

However although it’s been a long few days, it has been a successful one that has seen our web design london offices launch of the new website design for the famous Cottesbrooke Hall and Gardens – home of the Cottesbrooke Plant Finders Fair.

James Alexander-Sinclair

James Alexander-Sinclair is just one of the stars you can meet at the Fair.

Cottesbrooke is a prestigious Country house located in the Northamptonshire, famous for it’s beautiful grounds and gardens. However over the past few years the sites prominence has risen still further through the launch of the incredibly popular “Gardeners Fair” (formally the Plant Finders Fair). Cottesbrooke has long been the home pf fantastic gardening, but the Fair has really pushed the brand to the forefront of the national and international gardening events calendar. Billed as the how of “Slow Gardening” the event showcases the very best in plants and gardening materials.

The event runs from the 22nd tot he 24th of June 2012 – if you are into your gardening we recommend you get along there to see it. If you need more information for now, why not visit their fantastic new website, which you can view on www.cottesbrooke.co.uk . You can find out whats on, what else is in the area and book tickets to avoid disappointment.

We shall see you there!

Facebook snaffles Instragram

Well I don’t like to gloat, but we saw it coming. It appears our friendly international social media giant is continuing it’s march towards full social media integration through the purchase of “Instagram”.

For those of you who aren’t already part of Instagram revolution, it is essentially a photo sharing site, that uses old school “Lomo” style effects to essentially make what are pretty average looking pictures look retro cool. And I have to admit it’s one of my favorites. It’s a simple ap that you install on your phone, that transforms your mobile snapper into an filtered filled social extravaganza. Obviously it is already linked with Facebook, as all self respecting social media has to be these days, but it seems the recent purchase by Zuckerberg and co means it is set for even more assimilation.

However the main thing that seems to be catching everyone’s eye about this deal is not the potential improvements to our online lives, but the huge price-tag!! Instagram was bought for a whopping 1 billion dollars (that’s a US billion though – not a proper UK one). For a site with 30 Million users, that represents a huge cost per member, but given the site has doubled in size in the last year, perhaps this price-tag is less surprising.

Pretty impressive for a company with only 13 employees. Hopefully this will mean a few less aps and a bit more functionality from a singular site, but who knows.

We wish them all the best of luck, and hope the directors are enjoying their millions. It’s a fantastic sign of what you can do in the modern age with a good idea and clever execution. Who knows if the next one might come out of our web design london offices… Watch this space!

 

Facebook app adds “Enemy” function

A report in todays Mashable is reporting there is a new “enemy” ap that is heading to FaceBook, and we can’t help but think it is about time. We’re not a curmudgeonly bunch, but the incessant liking on FaceBook was always a little one sided in our view. We at PureBlue believe that your dislikes say just as much about you as your likes.

Enter “Enemy Graph”-  the ap that lets you dislike anything you might like (or not like… as the case obviously is!). Whether it is one of your friends who took you last Rolo without asking, or Nestle for making those packets one Rolo too short, you now have the ability to express your disdain for any thing on FaceBook you may wish.

The aps author spoke to Mashable and said – “One thing that has always struck me is the enforced niceness culture,” Terry told Mashable. “We wanted to give people a chance to express dissonance as well. We’re using the word enemy about as accurately as Facebook uses the word friend.”

Never a truer word said. I must admit when I look at my own FaceBook profile I do doubt how many of my 300+ so called friends I will ever see again. Obviously that doesn’t include any of my chums in our London Web design offices, but I’m pretty sure there are a few folk from primary school in there I haven’t spoken to in years. Not that I am going to name these folk as my enemies, it’s just nice to see the addition of a level of disdain. It’s been a far to one sided affair on social media up until now and I for one look forward to expressing some vitrolle in the world of social media.

Right – I am off to go find the One Direction page pronto.

"Dislike!!" Boom!!

 

 

It’s true… We are certifiable!

Well I say we, what I actually mean is Barny our lead developer is.

We are thrilled to announce that he has become one of the UK’s very first Magento Ecommerce Developers! Here are PureBlue we love the Power of Magento, and none more so that our dear Barn. In fact if you are lucky enough to brave the Morpeth Arms in Pimlico on a Tuesday night, (or a Wednesday or a Thursday come that…) you will find Barn regularly regailing the clientele with stories of the wonders of Magento.

It’s quite a sight, though we are not always sure the pretty young ladies appreciate just how exciting Magento really is. However we can understand why he gets excited – and so can the team at Magento. So much so in fact they have posted a link all about him on their website.

Have a look by clicking here.

We are all very proud of all he has achieved, and we know we have one of the finest developers in in the UK at our web design london offices.

Keep up the good work Barny!!