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Android takes over the world
Smartphones now dominate the mobile market – IDC expects nearly 1B smartphones to ship in 2015. They recently published a press release stating that smartphones outstrip feature phones for first time in Western Europe.
Is your website ready for mobile? If not, take a look at our our new 1-day Mobile Web Design Training course and comprehensive 5-day Mobile Web Design Course Package
Once you have your website fully optimised, consider building an app for your business. iPhone apps alone are expected to produce $15.1 billion revenue in 2011 so make sure you receive a part of this with our iOS 5 App Training course.
Android is growing faster than ever (nice one Google) and is the undisputed King of mobile OS today. I have already written about how google is taking over the world, now they have an even greater stronghold on the fastest growing industry today – Mobile. Just looking at our own web stats in Google Analytics, comparing the last two months of web traffic from mobile mobile users with last years stats, you can see this happening:
- Mobile Visitors are up 230%
- iPhone users are up 148%
- Android users are up 465%
Whilst with only a small screen, designs must be kept simple the capabilites of the latest smartphones provide lots of opportunites for createtive design and development ideas.
Anyone with a background in web design is capable of producing a working mobile website, there is simply a new set of rules for mobile phone optimisation. Read the rest of "Mobile Web Design – What web developers need to know"
Posted by Heather Buckley in Mobile App Development, News, Web Design on September 26th, 2011| 18 Comments »
The full BrightonSEO 2011 Round Up is the most comprehensive available. We feature our pick of the best round ups alongside our own round up with video, slides and comments.
The second speaker at BrightonSEO 2011 got everyone talking and tweeting. John McElborough gave his advice on building a private blog network and added a pinch of controversy to the morning. The usual twitter buzz was rising to a crescendo and #BrightonSEO was trending, but spattered amongst the “Best ever” tributes and tweets of resounding praise were a few disgruntled SEO’ers in the audience tweeting about lack of ethics and Black Hat tactics. I’d like to point out that this is a FREE event. If it were highly priced, superbly slick and full of uber expensive Key Notes we wouldn’t see the likes of John McElborough and his honest account of Quick fix SEO. He didn’t claim to be ethical, and he was quite open about the fact that in the near future this may not work, he was aware that the Panda Update was still being tweaked and that tomorrow he could be wiped off the face of Google. More about surviving the Google Panda Update here.
He also admitted that Fake Whois identities may not be a great long term plan. I loved his honesty. If it were expensive we probably wouldn’t have the privilege of seeing John and having a good debate about it. We probably wouldn’t see people like Dave Peiris - @sharkseo. See #BrightonSEO 2011 – Attracting Quality Links . I like the eclectic mix of speakers. If Brighton SEO continues to grow the way it has over the last two years (far from it’s humble beginnings upstairs in the pub) we may begin to see less of the Johns of SEO and more high profile Keynotes and polished presentations, then we might be missing something.
I think Kelvin Newman put on a great show. He “owned the stage” as Simon Cowell would say, “he nailed it”, Kelvin has the XFactor.
Don’t forget to watch the video – juicy debate recorded as well as the presentation.
Building a Private Blog Network – a controversial talk by John McElborough at #Brighton SEO
John McElborough - Brighton SEO
McElborough told his audience to leave ethics behind, asking them to make their own minds up on whether his strategy is white hat or black hat.
John McElborough’s method (building a private blog network) is to create a network of anything from 20-100 private blogs, all linking back to a main site. He went on to tell you how to make the domains all look as if they are on different servers with unique IP addresses, and even suggested that you fake your ID on Who-Is when you register the domains. The idea is to build up lots of easy links from each of the domains to each other and to your main site, as well as building up the authority of each private blog using traditional link building techniques.
Black Hat tactics?
He started by talking about the content of the blogs, starting with 5-10 posts on each site, he suggested using interns, students and writer samples. The acquisition of content by these means didn’t sit well with the copywriters at the event as explained on Ensign Jen’s blog. He is obviously going with the quantity not quality angle here.
Read the rest of "Brighton SEO 2011 – Is there a Black Hat in the room? – a controversial talk by John McElborough"
Posted by Heather Buckley in Brighton, Google Analytics, News, SEO, Social Media on September 13th, 2011| 22 Comments »
MSP 2011 Updates Launched Today!
Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) the best practice guidance for programme management has been updated and officially released today on 30 August 2011.
There are many valuable additions to the manual that will make things clearer not only for MSP Practitioners , but also for people who are new to programme management. Our trainers are updating our MSP training courses to reflect these changes and these will be ready for our MSP Foundation and MSP Practitioner courses starting on 10 October
We’ve written previously about the MSP 2011 Updates – but below you’ll find a useful summary of the updates to the MSP Manual.
Incidentally – delegates attending our MSP Training courses will receive a copy of the MSP Manual included in their course fees.
If you are an existing MSP Practitioner and would like to buy the new manual – follow the Amazon link below:
Buy on Amazon: Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) 4th Edition Manual
Three chapters have been renamed and revised:
Benefits Management
The Benefits Management chapter now fits better with the others and includes practical advice on techniques and categorisation.
Risk & Issue Management
The revised Risk & Issue chapter relates more directly to the programme environment, and change control has been added to a new supporting cycle.
Quality & Assurance Management
The Quality & Assurance Management chapter now includes a significant new section on Assurance, with an emphasis on people development.
The Transformational Flow processes is now related to the Governance Theme and there is guidance and advise on practical ways to apply the guidance. They have included greater clarification of the roles and responsibilities of the Business Change Management team.
You can find out even more about the update from the official MSP update overview brochure.
Posted by Heather Buckley in MSP, MSP Training, Project Management on August 30th, 2011| No Comments »
The Future of Web Development is Mobile!
We have now launched our first mobile app development course! iPhone App Development Training teaches you how to create iOS 5 apps from scratch, allowing you to style popular apps for iPhone and iPad and have mobile users download your content directly to their phones and tablets.
A recent Ofcom report has shown that one third of adults in the UK use a smart phone.
mobile development training
In 2009 half a billion people accessed the web via their mobile worldwide, and that is expected to have doubled by 2014 as the mobile web overtakes the desktop PC as the most popular way to browse.
Smart businesses are grasping the opportunities that the latest mobile applications make possible. If your website does not render properly on a mobile device, you’ll be missing out on a vast amount of traffic and exposure.
And that’s just mobile web browsers – an increasing number of users are now using native web apps on their phones for their favourite sites. The Financial Times iOS app launched in June 2011, and already has 350,000 users.
Silicon Beach Training is in the process of developing mobile application training courses to meet the industry demand.
If you think you have what it takes to join our team as an associate Mobile Web or Applications Development Trainer, we would like to hear from you.
At Silicon Beach Training we have high standards, and know that simply being a great programmer or developer does not make you a great trainer, so look at the following trainer recommendations when considering your application:
- Good trainers need to be great communicators
- Great technical training courses teach by showing delegates why they are doing something, showing them how to do it then letting them do it – people learn by doing – it’s important to have well researched and tested exercises and case studies prepared.
- You need to start with a well researched course schedule that is realistic within the time frame
- It’s important to stick to a schedule and not get sidetracked
- It’s important to be able to juggle different abilities - to have things prepared for the high flyer’s so they don’t get bored, and be able to assist the slower delegates to bring them up to speed without holding back the class.
- It’s about teaching not lecturing – don’t make the introduction too long, delegates want to start doing practical work before first break
- Take delegate feedback and be open to it – we always read every word of feedback and use this to constantly improve our courses.
Courses in development are:
Mobile Apps Strategy Training
This is a course about how businesses can use mobile apps as part of their marketing or communications strategy. Not only will this course cover what you will need to know to use your marketing budget effectively to outsource the development of smart phone apps, but also how to use you can use the iPhone, Android devices, BlackBerrys and Windows Phone 7 effectively for marketing. The course will help you to understand processes for commissioning, developing and evaluating apps.
Objective C Training
This course is an introduction to coding in Objective-C, its a good primer for those who need to learn the Foundation Framework to develop code for iPhone or iPad apps using iOS
iPhone and iPad app development
This training course is an introduction to iOS development techniques and concepts. Delegates will learn to use the major tools and APIs in the iPhone SDK, and how they fit together.
Android Application Development
This is a hands-on training course taking delegates through how to set up the Android Development Environment to publishing an application on the Android marketplace.
Responsive Web Design
This course covers using the latest Web standards including HTML5, CSS3, jQuery and JavaScript to design dynamic web-pages, using flexible layouts which render perfectly on all mobile devices.
Have you got what it takes? If so please send your CV to alistair@siliconbeachtraining.co.uk
Posted by Heather Buckley in Brighton, JavaScript Training, jQuery Training, Mobile App Development, News, Programming, Sales & Marketing, Web Design on August 8th, 2011| 7 Comments »
It’s been quite an eventful few weeks for Google+. It has taken the world by storm and established itself as the fastest growing social network in history attracting 20 million unique visitors in just three weeks.
New to Google+? Check out our Google+ Hints and Tips post
As an early adopter I’ve been watching the news and ebb and flow of trends .
First to catch fire was the “Facebook V Google+” story. Streams were flooded with animated gifs of Facebook slapping madness. Thankfully that trend has subsided. Maybe we’ll see animated gifs develop as an art form – or maybe not, I just deleted the example I found in this post as I can’t concentrate while they WONT KEEP STILL!
So will it kill Facebook? Not in my opinion. For a start there are age restrictions, so even if the teenyboppers want to join the party they can’t – and they are a really big part of the social graph.
Next there is the fact that people have been building their social networks for years; and it’s just too daunting a task to try and recreate that elsewhere. However Google+ is different in many ways and offers a new experience for users. Many will jump ship, of course, but I can’t see it being a mass exodus as first suggested.
For a start, early adopters were mainly tech people, developers, SEO consultants, some photographers and social media fanatics. This has shaped Google+ quite considerably and has already got the reputation of being a network for the geeky. For people like me, that’s great! My interests are all catered for here but I can’t see it catching on for my mum or my sons – not yet anyway. I love that I am not constantly invited to events I have no interest in and my stream is much cleaner and more interesting.
Like any new social group, there is a predictable pattern to its development. I know you geeks hate all the psycho, business babble but bear with me here. Truckman’s stages of group development spring to mind. The Forming – Storming – Norming – Performing model.
Forming
As I mentioned earlier, the inclusion of mainly geeks whilst in beta has been defining the development of Google+. Everyone who’s anyone in the world of computing and the Internet is already there. Businesses have been chomping at the bit for a piece of the action. It is obviously going to become a powerful tool for brand awareness, link building and community management. Read the rest of "The evolution of Google+"
Posted by Heather Buckley in Google Analytics, Google+, News, SEO, Social Media on July 29th, 2011| 3 Comments »
Google+ hints and tips
If you are a complete Google+ beginner you should check out our post Why Google+ is so Hot!. It will take you through the basics. Whilst it is fairly intuitive (we love it!) there are some tips and tricks you might not know about, we hope they will take you a little beyond the basics. If you areinterested in getting more updates like these don’t forget to follow us on Google+!
NEW - You should also check out our post on How to Customise your Google Plus Profile – Colin has created a step by step guide and Photoshop Template to help you pimp your about page!
Here are the most useful shortcuts and tricks for Google+ that we have come across. Please share your best tips if you can’t find them in the list in our comments section.
1/ Remember to make some of your posts “public” not just “limited” (limited means shared with your selected circles). Otherwise the public view of your profile will show no posts!
remember add "public" (green) button to share with everyone
2/ To see how the public (and people who are not following you) will see your profile click “view profile as” and select “anyone on the web”. You can also see what your profile looks like to particular people or circles of people.
view your public profile
3/ If you want to send a message for the attention of one person in particular type +name or @name and they should appear in a list for you to select.
send to an individual person only
4/ There is an option to disable sharing. But remember if you want to keep a secret don’t put it online! Everything – even if you disable sharing – is sharable by screen grab! To disable share click on the little arrow top right of your post and select “disable reshare.”
you can disable reshare but remember you secrets are only a screen grab away from being public!
5/ Your contacts cannot see the names of the circles you put them in – Have fun!
This is a joke don't judge me!
6/ However people can see with whom a limited post is shared! Click on the word limited on someone’s post and you can see who they shared the post with.
7/ Your time-line is affected by how many comments a post has and how many +1’s it has.
8/ Click on Notifications in the left sidebar and you’ll see a chronological listing of all your Google+ notifications. Clicking the “More” link at the upper right of that stream gives you some useful filtering options:
more button in notifications view
- Added to Circles – See everyone who has added you,
- Posts by You – Not all the posts you’ve written (those are in your Profile), but those you’ve written that have been shared by others.
- Posts by Others – Posts written by others that you’ve commented on.
- Mentions – Posts in which you’ve been tagged. When someone in your circles types a “+” and your name, you are tagged
- Photo tags – Posts with photos in which you’ve been tagged.
9/ If you click on Incoming (found in the left hand menu from the home screen) You can see all the posts from people who are following you even if you are not following them! If they seem interesting enough you can add them to your circles
10/ If you click on one of your photographs you can access some Picasa-lite image editing tools. When the Google+ iPhone app launches you’ll also be able to upload photos straight from your phone (Android users can already get the native app). In the meantime the Google+ iPhone web app is a sleek way to use Google+ on the move – but this doesn’t allow photo uploads.
11/ If you have commented on a post you will get updates every time someone else comments. If you are getting too many updates you can mute the post to stop this. Click on the word “post” in your notifications.
click on the word post
click mute this post
12/ Keyboard shortcuts
J – Lets you skip to the next post in your stream without scrolling
K – lets you jump upwards post by post
If you click on a post and hit return your comment box will open ready for your comment.
If you hit tab and return you will send your comment
13/ Type Tips
_ italic text _ will look like italic text
* bold text * will look like bold text
- strikethrough text - will look like strikethrough text
Posted by Heather Buckley in Google+, New Free Resources, News, SEO, Social Media on July 5th, 2011| 19 Comments »
Many Social media junkies from the UK are screaming for an invite to try out Google+ but they may have to wait a little bit longer.
Despite the skeptics who referred to Google Wave and Google Buzz as an indicators that it wouldn’t take off, I believe it’s easily the best social offering from Google to date and has become the hottest invitation you are likely to get for a while.
New – Check out our guide on how to Customise your Google+ Profile and our post that will take you beyond the Google+ Basics
Google had to stop inviting users to join its new social networking service less than two days after its launch in the US due to “Insane demand”. An early indicator that Google+ is going to be a big contender in the social media arena.
The message many in the US users were getting yesterday was
“We’ve shut down invite mechanism for the night. Insane demand. We need to do this carefully, and in a controlled way. Thank you all for your interest!
For any who wish to leave, please remember you can always exit and take your data with you by using Google Takeout.
It’s your data, your relationships, your identity.”
If you have been lucky enough to get a head start don’t forget to follow us on Google+!
Most of the people who are on Google+ so far in the UK are people with existing strong social networks. Google have admitted they have been accepting people who have strong social graphs.
Why Google+ is different?
Google+ Circles
The brilliant thing about circles that is missing from Facebook is that you can choose to message everyone at the same time or you can send messages to groups (circles) that you have set up to include a special set of people. Read the rest of "Google+ It’s so hot"
Posted by Heather Buckley in Google Analytics, Google+, New Free Resources, News, Sales & Marketing, SEO, Social Media on July 1st, 2011| 5 Comments »
