Yellowseed Web Development

Rik Logtenberg on Mar 01, 2010

What people buy online differs substantially from what they buy in-store. According to a study by the US Census Bureau, the bulk of sales still in-store. There are, however, several categories in which online sales dominate each product marketplace. These include: books and magazines, clothing, and electronics. Below, we have broken down the sales for each category, to show the percentages of both online and in-store sales as a part of the total marketplace, as well as a comparison of the two in absolute terms.

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Rik Logtenberg on Feb 17, 2010

Between Twitter, Facebook, and Google’s new social networking tool, Buzz, it’s hard to turn a corner without running into another social network. But how do you know which networking tool fits you best? We’re here—with big charts and all—to help.

Last week Google Buzz made us ask ourselves what we wanted out of social networking. To answer that question, we charted what we liked and disliked about setup, privacy, usability, and other aspects of Buzz, Twitter, and Facebook. Here’s the result.

Read Full Article from Lifehacker

Rik Logtenberg on Feb 12, 2010

LastPass is a free online password manager and Form Filler that makes your web browsing easier and more secure.

LastPass supports Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari for Mac as a browser extension (and Opera, Safari for Windows, Opera Mini and more via Bookmarklets).

Get Lastpass here.

Rik Logtenberg on Jan 10, 2010

Choice quote: “The Internet is old media. It will still grow, for awhile, but mobile is where the future is, where all the money and growth is.”

Rik Logtenberg on Jan 08, 2010

With opportunities abounding in renewable power and energy efficiency, traditional IT companies are making some rather aggressive moves into this market. This week, Google announced that it will launch its own utility, while Yahoo has found a source of funds for a new data center: the Department of Energy.

Read original article

Rik Logtenberg on Oct 27, 2009

The deal between Twitter and search giants Google and Microsoft to blend the microblog into their search results will have a big impact on the search marketing industry. Doug Platts, head of natural search at iCrossing, tells you what you need to know.

Here’s the article.

Thanks to Richard Young for sending me this link.

on Oct 26, 2009

With the massive increase in cloud computing, a lot of us have started to use Google’s online document service on a regular basis. Personally, I use it as my primary location for word-processing, and I really appreciate the sharing abilities, the comfortable interface, and the auto-saving features. The only characteristic that held me back from using Google was that if Google lost my information, then I would be left with nothing. So, every week, I would find myself boringly trying to back up the files I primarily use through the export feature. However, doing that one by one becomes quite boring and I never could seem to get to it on a regular basis.

So, I must say that I was a little surprised when I went to my familiar window and discovered that Google Documents is now able to export in bulk! This allows for me to finally back everything up on a regular basis and get to using my cloud information without a nagging worry.

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Rik Logtenberg on Oct 25, 2009

Here’s the presentation I gave at the Small Business Bootcamp in Nelson and Castlegar, BC. For more information on how we can help, visit our services page.

It might be hard to appreciate without the audio, but that will come soon.

on Oct 22, 2009

Estonia Clean Up
Last year 50,000 Estonians got together and did in one day what it would have taken the government 3 years and 22 million euros to do -clean up all the garbage in the country!
More than 600 volunteers came together to organize Campaign “Lets Do It!”, a grassroots initiative to clean up the country from 10,000 tons of illegal waste in just one day.

campaign site

Rik Logtenberg on Oct 22, 2009

The timing for this is amazing: 10 minutes after telling an audience that Google is going to do some major upgrades to it’s search to expand it’s social media features, they go and announce that they are about to launch it from Google Labs (and I was just speculating). Here are the major features:

- The bottom of search results will soon have social networking information from your friends, like their Flickr (Flickr) photos or their status updates. It’s a blended search integration, similar to seeing news or image results.

- These are pulled from social networks connected to your Google Profile. The more that are connected, the more social information that will appear in search results.

- They have also improved searching for images using social networks. Images become more relevant using social networking data.

- It will launch in Google Labs in the next few weeks.

Thanks Mashable.

Rik Logtenberg on Oct 17, 2009

Canada ranks number 2 in the world in percentage of population using Facebook (Denmark is number 1), but leads the world in watching videos online.

February 2009 comScore Video Metrix data showed that 21 million Canadians viewed more than 3.1 billion videos online during the month. The average Canadian online video viewer spent 10 hours viewing videos in February, up 53 percent from their average viewing time last year.

Youtube leads all video sites with 53% of users.

Read more here.

Rik Logtenberg on Oct 06, 2009

Copyblogger is one of the best destinations for tips on how to write for the web. They consistently provide helpful and clear articles about attracting and keeping an audience and providing genuinely helpful copy. I often get bummed out at the loss of originality and pure expression (and I’m guiltier than most of writing to a formula), but I have to remember that communication is more than art or pure expression. It’s just as much about transmitting information in the simplest and unadorned way (except for the occasional “hook”).

Having said all that, one of the most important parts of any blog post is the headline. The copyblogger website has done a series called How to Write Magnetic Headlines. The latest installment is 10 Sure-Fire Headline Formulas That Work. Here are the highlights:

1. Who Else Wants ... ?
2. The Secret of ...
3. Here is a Method That is Helping ... to ...
4. Little Known Ways to ...
5. Get Rid of ... Once and For All
6. Here’s a Quick Way to (solve a problem)
7. Now You Can Have (something desirable) (great circumstance)
8. [Do something] like (world-class example)
9. Have a (or) Build a ... You Can Be Proud Of
10. What Everybody Ought to Know About ...

Rik Logtenberg on Oct 01, 2009

There was so much interest in how to master twitter, I decided to record a video. This is based on the blog post 10 Steps to Becoming a Twitter Master.

Rik Logtenberg on Sep 30, 2009

Let’s face it, most people think twitter is a gimmick. It’s easy to set up an account and easy to start posting. Sadly, most people stop there. Many of my clients post a few tweets, get a few followers and then become frustrated at the amount of time they spend composing elegant messages for a tiny audience. It just doesn’t seem worth it.

But if you persevere, Twitter can become a powerful and time-saving tool for staying connected with your friends and promoting your business.

Here then are my 10 easy steps to becoming a twitter master:

Step 1: Create multiple twitter accounts for each business in addition to your personal account

If you’re like me, you have a couple of businesses going on. I’m a consultant, a web designer, and a partner in a yoga training company (no joke). Since each company has a unique client base and who are clearly interested in different things, I set up a blog and twitter feed for each company. By creating separate twitter accounts I can focus on giving my followers things they’ll find interesting.

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Rik Logtenberg on Sep 30, 2009

Not too long ago our productivity training service (afishinsea.com) was mentioned in the National Post as part of a story about Apps for the iPhone. Of course the story also got posted online and now lives forever in their archives, which is pretty cool. These kind of mentions, especially on a high-authority website like the National Post can have also sorts of unexpected benefits. I’m going to write about the benefits of traditional PR in another post, but at the moment I’m curious about why journalists are inclined to mention your website or business in a story.

I found a list of the 10 Reasons Why Journalists Will Write About Your Website. Make sure to check out the full story for some great action ideas.

Here’s the run-down:

1. They need to create a list
2. They need a seasonal story
3. They want to follow up on a big story
5. They’re writing about a particular group and you fit the bill
6. You’ve won an unusual order
7. They need an example to illustrate a national trend
8. They need an example to illustrate federal legislation
9. They need expert comment
10. They need an award winner

Rik Logtenberg on Aug 12, 2009

Google has lifted the lid on its updated search engine, which developers have nicknamed “Caffeine”.

Although still in the testing phase, the firm says it is the “first step in improving the speed, accuracy and comprehensiveness of search results”.

The new engine will replace Google’s current one after tests are complete.

Martin McNulty of search marketing specialist Trafficbroker said the upgrade threatened to put Microsoft’s new engine, Bing, “in the shade”.

“Google have let Caffeine quietly slip out. It talked about vertical specific searches while quietly doubling the speed and starts introducing real-time results and news feeds,” he said.

Read more

Rik Logtenberg on Jul 08, 2009

PayPal has many critics. The problem is, although it acts like one, this online payment processor is not bank and is not subject to the same regulations as a bank. For many people who rely on the company for making and receiving online payments, Paypal has used this freedom from regulation, some claim, to get away with almost criminal customer support. Try a search for “problems with Paypal” and you will find hundreds of websites with thousands of stories about how paypal froze accounts without warning, failed to prevent scams, or failed to do something after a scam was discovered.

In the past, I was a Paypal booster. Their system is easy-to-use, efficient and affordable. But after a client’s recent problems with their account and the terrible customer support, my enthusiasm has dimmed. I won’t go into details here (post a comment if you want to know more), but I think if you’re a Paypal user, it’s really good idea to understand what Paypal is and how they work.

Here’s a great article on how Paypal works.

Rik Logtenberg on Jul 07, 2009

Information designer Tom Wujec talks through three areas of the brain that help us understand words, images, feelings, connections. In this short talk from TEDU, he asks: How can we best engage our brains to help us better understand big ideas?

on Jun 25, 2009

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on May 18, 2009

I love Remember the Milk (RTM) - a web based task organizer that helps me organize big projects into manageable action steps. RTM is a smart and easy to use tool that makes it really easy to sort through your to-do’s and get them done!

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