How to Win Google’s Trust With Your SEO Link Building Strategy

May16
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author rank google manchester web design seo link building authorshipGoogle’s Penguin update has meant many changes are needed to be made to way we gain the trust of the search engine. Not only do we need to ensure that we are partaking in quality link building but we must now also be wary of the rate at which we increase our links and the reputation of the publications and authors publishing our links.

Quality Not Quantity

No longer does the quantity of links, regardless of quality, that you have on your site and linking back to your site have an advantageous effect on your search engine page rankings. In fact, it has quite the opposite, as Google are now cracking down on sites with too many poor quality back links and links on their site, penalising and punishing as they go. So one way to ensure you earn Google’s trust is to ensure all links on your site and all backlinks on other sites are high quality.

More Haste, Less Speed

No longer is doubling and tripling the number of links you have and trying to keep up with competitors numbers an issue for websites. Google are now looking out for those who are building links at a realistic rate, and whose links are high quality. Those who are increasing the number of links at a ridiculous rate will sooner or later get caught out by Google, and in the end slow and steady will always win the race and Google’s trust where SEO and link building is concerned.

Appeal to Google’s Human Side

Authorship (also known as Author Rank) is being referred to as Google’s human side, as it is a system designed and integrated by Google as a way to consider more than the cold hard statistics when it comes to search. Anyone can write babble and stick in relevant key words in any subject field, that is why Google wanted to find a way to separate the nonsense from the credible information.

The best way they could find to do this was to develop a system that would take into consideration the author/publication by which the content was posted, and how many followers they have on social networks, how much and how often content is shared, the amount of acknowledgement they get (in terms of social signs such as Likes, +1s, ReTweets, reblogs, etc.) and how people react to their content. The best way to make use of Authorship is to have a Google+ profile, and ensure you are posting quality content to there and other linked social sites regularly.

Mancunian Creative can help you with your SEO! Email us, hello@mancuniancreative.co.uk, or call us on 0161 883 0843 for a chat.

5 Ways To Get Creative With Branding On A Budget

May09
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budget branding manchester web design

Whether you are a start up or an established SME, chances are you don’t have the same ridiculously large budget that big corporations have to throw at branding to try and make a success of it. And the truth is, you don’t even need it! There are plenty of ways to do branding on a budget, and save that money for spending where it’s really needed in order to give your business a boost.

1. Think Like The Customer, Not The Entrepreneur

We often forget that in actual fact you and your customers share a great deal in common. We are all customers, we all buy products and services based on how we perceive them. Advertisements, marketing, social media and packaging all subconsciously sway us when it comes to choosing which brand to purchase from, no matter how much we deny it.

So try to step away from your entrepreneurial shoes for a second and walk in the customer’s shoes. What were your last 10 purchases? What brands were they from and why did you choose them over other brands? And are there particular brands you feel loyalty to and would always choose over another in certain product areas? Why is that? Answering these questions will give you an insight into how the customer’s mind processes branding.

2. Be a Host with The Most

Events are a great way to get people to engage with your brand the old fashioned way. But you may be thinking ‘hang on a minute, I thought this was BUDGET branding!’. Fear not, events don’t have to cost the earth if you get creative! If you have a fixed location such as a shop where you showcase your products and/or services, invite people here, or if you are an online business then make alliances with local businesses who could share the event (make sure they have a common target market) with you in return for a venue. Whether it be your mailing list, or a community on social media, arrange a gathering, spend a little on food and drink for the guests, and when you have them all in your territory you can network, promote your products, build relationships, etc.

It’s easier to sell to people and build relationships when you are all in a fun, relaxed environment. People like to interact, and although social media does facilitate this, sometimes good old fashioned face to face rather than Facebook to Facebook can work wonders.

3. Social Media is Free, Make The Most of It!

Although point number 2 does say old fashioned communication can be good once in a while, 24/7 communication as our fast paced digital-centric society has come to rely upon is equally as important to utilise. And what better way to keep the digital communication flowing than with a free tool such as social media? Yes, you can pay to promote yourself on social media just as you can pay to get to the top of Google with Adwords, but with some good old fashioned time and effort put in, paid promotion isn’t a necessity. For more info on how to make the most of it, check out our post on the value of social media

4. Make The Most of Your ‘Prime Real Estate’, On and Offline

By ‘prime real estate’ we are talking anything you own and have complete control over. This can include your website, social media channels, email signature, even your phone’s voicemail can be optimised for branding.

Keep these areas updated regularly, even with just a few minor adjustments every so often. Social media as you know needs to be updated much more regularly with engaging content, but an email signature or voicemail can be adjusted once in a while so that people who regularly see or hear these messages are given something new to engage them. A friendly face or vibrant company logo on an email signature and website, and a warm and sincere tone on a voicemail message will go a long way towards building your brand’s likeable personality.

5. Content Can Capture Hearts and Minds

Content is not only king when it comes to the SEO benefits it now provides, but it can also capture the hearts and minds of your audience, building loyalty and relationships and creating a personality for your brand. As little as one post a week on a company blog (which can be made for free if you don’t already have one) can help to create a likeable perception of you and your brand.

Many CEOs like to add a personal touch by posting opinion and advice posts as themselves, as it shows the human side to the brand. Other blogs even involve various team members who post about specific areas relating to the brand, which again creates a likeable human side. Or you can opt to create a personality for the brand in its own right, with an agreed set of objectives and guidelines to work with based on what your customers engage with.

There are plenty more original and low cost ways to get creative with branding for your company, and we can help with this! Contact hello@mancuniancreative.co.uk or call us on 0161 883 0843 to chat about how we can provide branding solutions tailored to any budget.

 

Why Content Marketing Is So Important To SEO In 2013

May02
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seo, content marketing, web design manchesterContent has always played a part in digital marketing strategies, but 2013 is set to be the year that content rules, with search engines changing the weight they put on content and quality when it comes to search engine page rankings (SEPRs). Now online marketing agencies are scrambling to find quality content writers to handle the growing need for high quality content to feed content led marketing strategies this year.

The main reason for the large shift in the value of content as part SEO tactics comes down the changes made by Google in the last year. Its Penguin update, launched in April of 2012, saw many websites’ SEPRs suffer due to a lack of quality back links from pages and websites containing quality content, as well as a lack of well written and relevant content on their own website.

The Good, the Bad, and the Black Hat SEO

Google decided to make the change after link building, a tactic that came about in the late 1990s after the search engine announced its plans to use links as votes for the credibility of sites and base rankings partly on this factor, gained a bad name due to the amount of online marketing consultants misunderstanding and abusing the original concept. Marketers would pay sites that were created simply for the purpose of content creation to post low quality and over optimised content full of links. This led to link building becoming about the sheer quantity of links rather than the quality of the websites and their content, making search results and user experience suffer.

Google are now cracking down on what has been deemed ‘black hat SEO’ or ‘bad link building’ by assessing the quality of the content and website the link is placed on, and favouring sites that use slow and steady link building tactics in conjunction with other online marketing and SEO tactics.

Content Is King

So, the best way to keep a good reputation and high SEPRs with search engines in 2013?  Enlist the help of web marketing professionals and content writers, create high quality content that is written for the reader, not for the search engine, and ensure you are guest blogging and sending content to reputable sites where your content will be relevant and bring something worthwhile to the site. Do your research before submitting content to sites, as having links and content posted on sites with a bad reputation could harm yours. And enjoy it while it lasts, as content marketing may be hot in 2013, but search engines are constantly changing so keeping up is crucial for your online marketing success.

To find out how Mancunian Creative could help you with your content marketing and SEO strategies, email us hello@mancunian creative.co.uk or give us a call on 0161 883 0843. 

How Your Website Design and Digital Marketing Can Make Or Break Your Company

Apr25
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macEver heard the expression ‘first impressions count’? It may be a cliché but it rings true when it comes to your website design. But that isn’t all that needs to be considered when pondering impressions. You could have a perfectly designed website, but if you’re lacking in the digital marketing aspect then the likelihood is hardly anyone is actually getting far enough to see it. Your digital marketing needs to impact and draw in the visitors, and the website needs to leave a lasting impression that makes them want to stick around and/or come back for a return visit.

You’re considering your own website design and digital marketing strategy now aren’t you? Well take a look at the following ways in which both can impact your business, and then try considering what you are doing, and the reason why your conversion rate is lacking or your visitors are quickly fleeing the site should become clearer.

Keep It Updated and Attractive

Tastes change, and so your website also need to. If you haven’t updated your website design over the past decade, the likelihood is no matter how attractive it looked then, it now just looks old and outdated. Keep it fresh by keeping on top of current web design trends and asking your web designer for regular advice on what’s changing in the web design world. It doesn’t mean a complete re-design every six months, just adding new features or playing around with layout will keep visitors, new or return ones, interested.

The same goes for your digital marketing strategy. Using traditional, tried and tested methods is all good and well, but your audience is likely to get bored of it rather quickly. Grab their attention by mixing things up and being unexpected, trying out new strategies is a risk that usually pays off. They all said social media was a risk, now it’s one of the top marketing strategies there is.

Be Simple and Transparent

It’s important that a company’s website makes it instantly clear what they are all about. This can be put across by both the design and the content of the website. It also needs to have a clear aim for it to be effective. So if the main aim of the website is for visitors to contact you, make your contact info prominent, so it’s one of the first things the visitor sees.

Do Your Digital Marketing Aims and Website Aims Match Up?

Your digital marketing strategy is always going to be geared towards getting people to your website to eventually fulfil an overall goal, be that contact you about your services, purchase a product, learn something about your company, etc. So your website and digital marketing need to match up seamlessly. For example, if you’re new product that is on special offer, your website also needs to promote this, making it easy for a visitor to your website to locate the item that drew them in instantly. If they can’t find it fast enough, you will lose them.

Measure and Analyse Everything

The key to knowing your strong and weak links in both your website and your digital marketing strategy is to measure it and analyse it. It’s the boring bit that everyone hates, but the information you get from doing this is vital to the future success of your company online.

Now let’s go back to your website and digital marketing strategy.  Are there particular pages of your site that are lacking visitors? Consider the points we have discussed in this post and then take a look at those pages. It is likely that a small change could make a big difference. What about your digital marketing strategy? Is engaging enough to grab your audience or do you need to shake things up? Do the aims you had before still ring true or do you need to reconsider your website and marketing goals? Hopefully this article will have helped you begin to get to the bottom of issues you may be having in these areas, and if you need any more help and advice on the matter, email us or give us a ring on 0161 883 0843 and we would be happy to help.

 

Government website wins design award, but is it deserved?

Apr18
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So it would seem the Government have gone one thing right for once, as their new portal design has landed the Design of the Year Award 2013, as chosen by the Design Museum in London’s panel of judges.

gov_2532570b

The plain and simple portal replaces the DirectGov and BusinessLink websites and will eventually bring together 24 different Government departments under one roof. Beating seven different categories with over 95 websites nominated, it would seem less is definitely considered more in the stakes for this award.

But is the award deserved?

It is good to see a website winning a ‘design’ award that isn’t actually associated with web design, but more from a general design appreciation. However, I am a web design professional and consider myself a little bit of a User Experience Expert – the Gov.uk website has got ‘good’ aesthetics, for a government website, and it’s good to see that they’re trying to focus a little attention on the way a website should convey information. The gov.uk is an improvement, but for me, it’s still got a long, long way to go. It has an enormous wealth of information that it needs to convey, which is sometimes, a help, sometimes a hindrance when trying to design a portal like this.

If I focus on the good points before saying why I actually don’t like it, and why, you’ll see what I am on about. Firstly, it’s clean. I like clean. With a lot of information to convey it doesn’t need to be getting lost in needless animation, colour, complicated typefaces and difficult navigation. so they certainly get a plus point on that from me.

But the navigation is not perfect. When you delve deeper into any particular service the only menu navigation you are presented with is ‘home’. There is still for me far too much text on each screen, is it all necessary?

I’d prefer a more simplistic, almost Google homepage view from the entry point of the website. Use an autofill algorythym that ask’s the user what they need help or information on, then suggest a series of answers, it’s a portal, much in the same way search engines are used, I think the government website is NOT something you would kill a few hours on, reading various pages. I think it’s generally a question/answer sort of visit, which should have been reflected in any pre-project research that the Government Digital Service should have conducted before embarking on a project of such magnitude.

Award winning? No.

For some absolutely amazing designs, I implore you to check out http://www.awwwards.com/awards-of-the-month/ each and every site here is far more user friendly, had better visuals, or a more creative method of conveying information that this latest effort by the government.

How Content And Branding Create Your Brand’s Likable ‘Personality’

Apr18
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web design content creation manchesterPeople like to feel like they are purchasing products and services from a ‘personable’ brand, one that has that human air about it, that you could go back to with any issues you had, that treats you like them like are the only customer that matters, that when they pop up in your news feed you forget for a minute that they aren’t just another friend rather than a company.

So creating a personality for your brand is crucial to creating this feeling of loyalty and attraction with both prospects and return customers. Branding also needs to show you are confident enough to be able to say, in so many words, that you are the ONLY company who can provide them with exactly what they need, or if not the only, you are most certainly the best of the bunch.

That is where content comes in. This personality and confidence is portrayed for the most part through the content you post on your website, your blog, your social media channels, your adverts, everything relating to your brand that contains even just one or two words is important. Branding and content work closely, some would even say they are one in the same, although we would say they have their own individual merits. But when they work together closely, they are what create the customer’s perception of your brand, and you can use this to carefully control how your brand is perceived.

How Your Brand Is Born Through Content

As mentioned before, branding is how you are perceived, your personality. Content is how you create and control this personality, by carefully gauging your choice of words, your tone, etc. So you need to first get to know your audience, how they communicate and the choice of language/tone.

You can then use this to grab their attention and create an instant bond with your audience, by creating a ‘voive’ for your brand that incorporates the same language/tone that your target audience would use. This voice should then be used when writing ALL content for your website, blog, social media posts, emails, etc. giving your brand the basis for a personality tailored to your target audience.

You also need to ensure that your content clearly gets across your brand’s key message, i.e. who you are and what you stand for. Every time you write something or consider where a topic for post would fit in, you not only need to consider how this would be of interest to your target audience, but how it would portray your brand and what you do.

For example, as a web design company, Mancunian Creative would not be likely to post a link to an article on the disadvantages of using a web design company. That may sound like I am stating the obvious, but you wouldn’t believe the amount of people that don’t consider what they are linking to! Instead, we might write something ourselves that counteracts these disadvantages, such as ‘common misconceptions about using a web design company’ or something that uses the content to turn around any doubts people could have and also subtly says ‘And we can help you with this’.

Expanding Your Brand’s Personality

Once you have the brand’s fundamentals and voice right using content, then you can get creative and add extra bits of content to flesh out your brand’s personality. For example, many brands post pictures of and quotes from their own employees on their website and social media, as these are the driving force behind the brand after all. It reminds people that they are talking to real people at the other end, and further emphasises the humanity of the brand.

For continued branding through content, consider incorporating and demonstrating some of the following elements to help you creating a healthy relationship and trust between you and the customer:

  • Word association
  • Images
  • Character
  • Culture
  • Personality
  • Spirit
  • Selection
  • Experience
  • Knowledge
  • Credentials
  • Expediency
  • Style
  • Technology
  • Geography
  • Alliances
  • Resources
  • Tools
  • Customer service

 For more information on how Mancunian Creative can help with your branding and content strategies, give us a call on 0161 883 0843 or email us, hello@mancuniancreative.co.uk

How a User Friendly Website Generates More Business

Apr11
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Image credit: http://www.techfreakstuff.com/

It is far from difficult to create a user friendly website, and the benefits in doing so for your business are endless. Stuck for what a user friendly site should be like? Just consider some of the sites you enjoy using, and then consider some that you don’t enjoy so much. The reason you enjoy using the first sites is because they are far more user friendly than the latter. Obviously you are more likely to spend time using the sites you feel comfortable with and enjoy navigating, and you want your potential customers to get the same feeling from your site.

What makes a user-friendly website?

Simplicity is the key: For your site to have a user friendly web design, everything should be nicely spaced, not too busy, and simple to find your way around.

Don’t Overdo It With Graphics: Your site should tantalise the eyes with SOME graphics rather than being a full on assault of Flash and other forms of web graphics cluttering every inch of the page and that draw attention away from the main purpose of the site.

Easy To Navigate: If people can find exactly what they are looking for in a minimum number of clicks then your site is easy to navigate, and this will please users. The most valuable navigation tool is the search box, as it allows people to go directly to what they want, or the area in which they are likely to find what they want. If however you have off putting extras such as ‘doorway’ pages, things become far less simple and it puts people off.

Allow Movement Back and Forth: There is nothing worse than realising you clicked the wrong thing and having to go right back to the start. Offer users a way to go back to where they previously were in a convenient fashion.  ‘Breadcrumb trails’ are popular as they show users where they are and have been, and can easily take steps back, e.g. Home > Men’s > Jackets and Coats.

Structure: Ensuring the most popular or attention grabbing site content is available at first glance, such as best sellers or current offers, will lead to more sales. Having basic information about your company and contact information in a prominent place on your homepage is reassuring to browsers in an age where internet scams are everywhere.

Testing, 1,2, Testing: Ensure you test your website for functionality and appearance on all popular browsers and devices. Does your website work on Internet Explorer, Safari and Chrome? Is your site responsive to mobile and tablet devices? All these things must be tested regularly as devices and internet browsers are constantly updating and changing.

Keep Up To Date: People don’t want to see out of date information and offers on your site, so make sure you are regularly giving your site a spring clean to ensure its kept fresh and up to the minute. Not only will this help keep customers happy, but it keeps your web design search engine friendly.

Be Clear: Be clear about costs, whether they include VAT, how much delivery will cost, any all other relevant information regarding your products and services. Also be clear on policies such as shipping, returns and refunds, etc. If information is ambiguous and unclear then people will instantly be put off.

Design to Impress: When having a company site made, it needs to look 110% professional, and so it is advisable to call in some web design experts, like us! Give the team at Mancunian Creative a briefing on your target audience and brand, and they will be able to provide you with a professional design that is aimed to attract and impress your target customers and let your brand shine through in all areas.

To find out more about how Mancunian Creative could help you transform your website into a responsive user friendly experience, email hello@mancuniancreative.co.uk or call us on 0161 883 0843.

 

The Effects of Responsive Web Design on SEO

Apr04
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Web Design

In our recent post about responsive web design we talked about the surface benefits, but there is much debate about the effect is has on underlying strategies such as SEO. There are many different opinions on whether it helps or hinders search engine optimisation, and to what level.

A lot of the arguments that believe it hinders SEO are often down to people simply not considering it properly, such as expecting an SEO strategy that has been in place for some time to be instantly beneficial to the new format without making necessary adaptations. That isn’t to say you should make the leap to responsive web design for the simple reason you think it will boost your search engine rankings either.

SEO when partnered with responsive web design can be equally as beneficial as when it is partnered with traditional web design, it just needs some careful consideration.

One Website, One Strategy

Because the growth of mobile and tablet use has been going on for some time now and shows no signs of slowing down, it has long since been inevitable that companies need to offer mobile-friendly websites. The original way to do this was to have a whole new website created from scratch but made for mobile devices rather than for desktop viewing, which meant a whole new SEO strategy would need to be undergone from scratch if this mobile site was to get very far in mobile searches. As you may well know, SEO strategies are time consuming and take quite a while to have much effect, so having to start another from scratch is both frustrating and costly.

That is one of the first SEO benefits of responsive web design. Because the one main website simply ‘responds’ to the device it is being viewed on, there is no need for a new website to be created for each device, therefore simply making necessary changes to the current SEO strategy whilst being able to keep the content, coding and links already in place for the website will ensure your previous efforts aren’t wasted and you don’t suffer a costly set back to your strategy.

No Need For Redirects = Less Room For Error

Another advantage of using responsive web design is that there is no need to be worrying about redirecting users to the correct site for their device. Redirects are commonly installed when a mobile site is created separately, and although it allows the SEO efforts to be focused on the main site alone, with the redirect automatically taking users to the correct site without the need for a second SEO strategy, it still means extra work is needed. Redirects can be temperamental and often need constant attention to ensure they work properly, with many mobile users finding them slow and frustrating.  Imagine if you searched for a particular product and clicked the link to be taken to that exact product page, only to be redirected to a completely different site where you need to start your search from scratch! With responsive web design there is no need for this, making it a favourite over separate mobile and microsites.

Less Time Spent Duplicating Tasks Across Sites

Having separate mobile and microsites with or without using redirect functions will still need time spent on them keeping them updated and ensuring even the most basic of low level SEO tasks are completed on each site individually. Whether you do it yourself or have an employee to do it for you, it costs your company valuable time and money that could be better spent on furthering your one main SEO strategy if you had responsive web design.

We aren’t saying responsive web design is perfect, it has its advantages and disadvantages the same as any other technique, but when it comes to SEO the advantages in our eyes do outweigh the disadvantages, of which there are slim to none. To read more about responsive web design in our previous blog post, click here.

To find out more about how Mancunian Creative could help you transform your website with responsive design, help with your website’s SEO strategy or both, email hello@mancuniancreative.co.uk or call us on 0161 883 0843.

 

An Honest Guide to Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising

Mar28
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Pay per click (PPC) advertising is something that has always split the online marketing world. There are those that think it is the best thing to happen to internet marketers since the internet, and those that say it’s a waste of budget with a very low return on investment (ROI). The truth is, PPC advertising is not the be all and end all of online marketing, and although it may have its cons, I challenge you to find an advertising strategy, or anything in life for that matter, that doesn’t have any negative aspects. It’s all about playing PPC to its strengths, and when integrated into a strong digital marketing plan it can be a key component to achieving marketing goals.

What Is PPC Advertising?

Every company dreams of being in the top spot on the first page of a Google search. PPC allows you to pay to be there. It isn’t quite as simple as that obviously, but the gist of it is you bid on keywords relating to your company, and the highest bidders appear in the highlighted section called ‘Sponsored Links’ at the top of the search page, just above the organic search results. You then pay whatever you bid per click. Say only 1 person clicks and you bid 50p per click, you pay 50p for that appearance. If 100 people click you pay £500.

But there are factors such as budget setting, popularity of keywords, etc. to take into account in all this as well. Read on to find out more about these factors and the pros and cons of PPC advertising.

The Pros

  • As you may know, search engine optimisation (SEO) is how you climb the Google ladder for organic search, but it is a very long and tedious process. Although it should never be replaced by PPC, it can work well in conjunction with it. PPC will get you there fast, as soon as within a few hours of setting up your PPC agreement depending on your keyword popularity, while your SEO works its way up organically.

 

  • Your links won’t just benefit from the VIP search engine treatment, as search engines like Google offer AdSense, a way for websites and blogs to make a bit of extra income from allowing links to be displayed on their sites.

 

  • You know exactly how much you will spend and you can control this. You get exactly what you pay for. You set a budget as to how much you want to bid maximum and the maximum amount you are willing to spend in total for clicks, and once the budget has been reached you won’t appear any longer and no more money will be taken.

The Cons

  • If you choose a popular keyword, you may find yourself having to bid relatively high to stand a chance, and this can eat away at your budget fast.

 

  • There is a known concern in the PPC world called click fraud. This has derived from publishers (the owners of the websites and blogs that can use AdSense to get paid for displaying links) clicking the links on their own website repeatedly to try to drive up the income they get, as they are paid per click. This is something PPC companies and search engines have been cracking down on and is thought to have been stamped out, but there is still some apprehension surrounding the issue.

 

  • Accidental clicks are inevitable, especially when links are being placed on websites and blogs that are similar to the content of the link. People can assume that it is something of interest to them on the website and click by accident, and you will still have to pay for that click. Luckily it doesn’t happen that often as sponsored links are made as clear as possible, but it does still happen.

 

Choosing Keywords and Bidding

Because there is always going to be heavy competition in any industry for the most popular keywords, it can be more worth your while choosing medium to low popularity variants. Fighting major conglomerates with unlimited budgets in bidding wars will only waste your own budget and won’t be half as affective. 

The price you pay per click is determined by the following factors:

  • Ad quality
  • Your maximum bid
  • Your competition’s maximum bid.

If your maximum bid was £3 you will never have to pay more than this. If your competition bids £2, you will only have to pay £2.01p to win the bid. However if your competition bids £4, you will lose the bid to them.

For more information on the estimated cost per click (CPC), monthly budget and ROI for your company’s individual situation, please feel free to contact us by emailing hello@macuniancreative.co.uk or call 0161 883 0843.

Adria Richards. Feminists validated or has common sense prevailed?

Mar22
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Since this broke a couple of days ago. I’ve been unable to take my eyes off the unfolding situation. For those who don’t know, Adria Richards was a Developer Evangelist. Yeh I have no idea what that is either. From what I can gather it meant she is a champion of women in tech. Not a bad thing on the face of it. But the problem with her and unfortunately the problem, in my eyes, of the feminist movement in general is that it advocates for one side over the other. Here at MCR we are a company in tech and we have 3 women and 3 men. As the gaffer of MCR I have never favoured any gender over another. We look to do the best work we can do and I don’t care if that comes from a man or woman. I hire solely on the quality of work and I’d like to think I treat my co-workers with the respect the deserve and importantly the respect the give.

 

Back to Adria. She applied a sexual referance to two internet/coding terminologies “forking” and “coding”. At worst I think it’s a slightly silly immature thing to say. At best it’s entirely work related. Adria’s reaction to photograph and publically ‘shame’ them was a huge overreaction to a fairly innocent private comment that she happened to overhear.

adria richards

To get a bit of female perspective on the situation, I asked our ‘social media butterfly’ Nat (note: she doesn’t feel her feminine job title is sexist, she actually quite likes it!) to give her view. Here’s what she said:

 

I am inclined to slightly sympathise with Adria simply because I it must be quite hard to have to work in a male dominated environment on a daily basis. But on the other hand, we don’t live in the 1950s anymore. Women can give as good as they get, that’s how we gain respect in work and outside of work. I don’t think it matters what industry you work in, or is even confined to the parameters of work, in society there will always be that sexual divide between men and women, no amount of equality can take that away, it can only lessen it. But instead she got on her high horse and caused uproar which affected not only herself but so many people around her, and over what? A childish schoolboy humour, which she could have simply turned around and replied to, saying ‘Not that your “dongle” is big nor will it have done much “forking”.

 

Unfortunately, Adria didn’t choose to give it back, and instead the situation escalated into chaos. One of the developers, Alex Reid was fired. The hive mind of the internet took over. Anonymous threatened SendGrid and carried out a DDoS shutting them down for quite a while. Many blog posts were written, commented on and argued over until SendGrid responded and fired Adria. Partly in response to pressure from Anon, but more importantly, it was in relation to Adria’s actual position at the company. She is tasked with talking to developers and maintaining a solid PR for SendGrid. She failed massively on both those counts. She was not fired because of the backlash. She was fired because she was the person that had to keep SendGrid in the press for the right reasons and she’s allowed a personal, percieved slight to take her company offline for a whole day’s trade.

 

But going back to my thoughts on feminist attitudes towards men and how men need to be sensitive of women around them. Why can’t women respect how men are naturally? We are of a different mind set and asking me to be anything other is not allowing me to be true to myself. I wouldn’t ask a gay person to be anything other than a gay person. That is what they are and the world is better for that. Don’t ask me to not be me and I won’t ask you to not be you. Common sense, for once has prevailed and I hope Adria can open her eyes and realise that while she is entitled to feel offended people have the right to say, in the words of the great Stephen Fry, “Well, so fucking what!”

 
By Stephen Howson & Nat Wilson


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