You are currently browsing the CGC - Creative Graphics Communications weblog archives for May, 2008.
Firefox 3 release candidate is already here! Its just a preview release of Mozilla’s next generation Firefox browser and is being made available for testing purposes only. Firefox 3 Release Candidate 1 is available in more than 45 languages as a public preview release intended for developer testing and community feedback. It includes new features.
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Email marketing is ‘easy’ and ‘inexpensive’, meaning that anyone can create a strategy, an online business resource has told.
However, to make the campaign successful it needs to engage readers and build trust, a representative from Emma told Ecommerce Guide.
When sending out emails they should be relevant to the interests of the subscribers and strike the right balance between content and image Emma’s Suzanne Norman told the resource.
Her eight tips included letting the design and message ‘flow’ from the original message a business wanted its campaign to communicate.
The marketing campaign should also be consistent with the business brand and ultimate message, she added.
As with all campaigns, it is important the reader is engaged straight away by using a well-crafted and intriguing subject line in the subscription email.
Ms Norman added that it was also important to make the correspondence personal.
‘Try segmenting your list so you can personalise the content based on the audience group to which you’re sending,’ she advised.
In a blog that offers advice to businesses, Ecommerce Guide contributor Jennifer Shiff advised businesses designing online campaigns to ‘never offer a product or service or make a commitment you cannot fulfil’.
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User-generated content (UGC) can be a highly beneficial addition to company websites if it is properly used, a web design company has advised.
Speaking at the Internet World Conference in London, the managing director of Fortune Cookie Justin Cooke said UGC is a ‘great’ way of building a business as it allows the users to ‘do the convincing’ for the company.
Writer Frank Bell identified the key points that make UGC so popular in an article published in Entrepreneur.com.
He said that increased bandwidth, better tools for posting content, better internet penetration and connectivity and the rise of social networking were all contributing factors.
Mr Cooke said: ‘We are seeing more and more of our clients adopting more of a managed user-generated contents and strategy.’
However, he advised that a ‘huge’ amount of content may start failing and that it needed to be controlled by businesses in the same way they would monitor their websites.
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Cyber-criminals can access free kits to aid them in launching phishing attacks, an online security resource has discovered.
The kits, discovered by PandaLabs, could allow the thieves to send out mass fraudulent emails mimicking bank web pages, online pay platforms and email accounts in order to trick people into handing over financial and personal data.
From the kit a criminal can access two files. One file allows the creation of spoof emails made to look like they have come from official sources and the other allows criminals to create mock-ups of genuine web pages.
The phishing attack takes place when the criminal spams internet users with the email, with a link to the fake web page. Users who follow the link will be asked to enter their personal data. Lists of email addresses can also be purchased from the internet.
Technical director of PandaLabs Luis Corrons said that the amazing thing was that the kits were free.
“Due to the simplicity of the tools, the number of phishing attacks increases, causing companies and consumers large losses,” said Mr Corrons.
Last week spam celebrated its 30th anniversary.
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The number of people participating in online social networking is booming, a report has found.
There are currently 9.6 million people in the UK who belong to a social networking site and that number is forecast to nearly treble in the next five years, the report by Datamonitor revealed.
Although driven by the younger age groups, many older generations have now begun to be drawn in.
A report by Hitwise/Experian Integrated Marketing found that the role of social networks would be bigger than ever in 2008. It said that no business or government could afford to ignore the role these sites played in people’s lives.
Datamonitor’s consumer markets analyst and author of the report Matthew Taylor said: ‘Consumers are creating and joining existing social communities which, if harnessed correctly, can be an important marketing tool.’
The UK has the highest social networking membership in Europe and has been quick to embrace the technology. According to the report many start-up networks are only available in the English language.
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Spam celebrated its 30th anniversary on Saturday (May 3rd).
The first reported mass email was sent to 350 people on May 3rd 1978 by Gary Thuerk to advertise a new system his company was pioneering. Even then, users greeted the email with criticism and distrust.
Today, it is estimated that 120 billion junk emails are sent every day, often resulting in internet users’ inboxes quickly filling up.
Spam was originally referred to as flooding, until an administrator of an internet chat system bestowed it with its new nickname. The term spam is thought to refer to the Monty Python sketch where a waiter reveals there is little on the menu but the processed and canned meat.
The European Union’s internal marketing commission estimated in 2001 that spam cost internet users 10 billion (approximately £7.87 billion) a year globally.
However, spam is not just annoying but could also install malware or result in financial data being stolen, Gary Cluley, a senior technology consultant, at Sophos told the BBC.
‘Spam is a burden on all of us’ he said.
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A risk assessment company has advised people to take simple steps in protecting themselves against identity fraud.
Even locking away documents, shredding unneeded paperwork and making sure bins are properly emptied can all help in the fight against online fraud, Experian has said.
A report by Apacs in March found that cases of online credit fraud were up 25 per cent on the previous year’s figures, making up over half of all credit fraud cases.
Last year, 68 per cent of consumers said they were concerned that financial data could be stolen when they made online purchases, according to a report by Mintel Comperemedia.
Experian’s fraud and regulatory compliance director Helen Lord said: ‘Identity fraud is one of the fastest growing crimes of the 21st century, but there are steps people can take to prevent it from happening.’
She advised holding onto bills and receipts to check with bank statements and asking neighbors to look after each other’s post when one of them is away to discourage theft.
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