Armadillo Creative » Web

Always Remember to KISS – Keep it Short and Simple

Rebecca Simpson — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:18:42 +0000

Rebecca Simpson

Subject lines have a massive impact on the open rates of email campaigns and can influence response metrics. It can be for many subscribers the only piece of information that she or he has to make a decision to open your email or not.

Your subject lines therefore need to be enticing and unique as you are potentially up against thousands of email marketing campaigns for attention in the inbox.

Your subject line is potentially as important as the email itself and should be given due time and attention. Below are some simple tips to always keep in mind when composing your own subject lines.

Short – Subject lines should be kept as short as possible. Many email clients cut off long subject lines with the number of allowed characters varying. We would recommend that you use no more than 55 characters however research shows that open rates fall off after 40 characters.

Test – A great benefit of email is that you can test several subject lines on a sample of recipients. You can then send your campaign with the subject line that performed best.

Spam Words – Remove any spam words. Phrases such as, “Save,” “Discount,” Free,” “Buy Now,” “Special Offer.”

Capital Letters – Never use capitals. In addition to being a typical spam technique that many filters will catch capital letters look unprofessional. Another spam technique to avoid id to use RE: or FW: in your subject line, trying to make it look like you know the user simply doesn’t work.

Value – Your subject line is the first thing the user sees of your brand. Make sure to clearly state the proposition.

Relevancy – Make sure that your subject line reflects the content of your message and is enticing to the reader.

if you would like more information about email marketing contact our specialist rebecca@armadillo-creative.com

Mobile websites are here to stay

Caroline Murphy — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:57:25 +0000

Within the past few years, it has now become common place to have some sort of internet access on mobile phones. Whether it be for satellite navigation, simple email processing, or full access to the world wide web, this new technology is clearly here to stay. Most of the mainstream, popular websites have already made the transition to mobile, as well as some smaller personal websites.

“Web-based applications that work across desktop, mobile and soon, TV screens, are the norm and not the exception these days” – Alec East, Director of Do Tank Studios.

Who uses them?

Some examples of website that have already made the transition:

Nike Bootcamp (created by AKQA)

Unilever – Lynx Effect (created by BBH)
- recieved a yellow pencil in the 2008 D&AD mobile marketing award.

Tohato (created by Hakuhodo)
- recieved a yellow pencil in the 2008 D&AD mobile marketing award.

Volkswagen

The Times

eBay.co.uk

So how does this affect you? As someone whom may only have a small personal website or run a large organisation selling products or services, you could be missing out on potential visitors to your website by neglecting this media type. Mobile phone websites were the fastest growing sector online with a 58 percent increase in Unique UK Visitors from 7.7 million in July 2008 to 12.2 million in July 2009. According to research done for Toyota, it was apparent that adding mobile to your online campaign provides more than 40% lift on branding alone. Can you really afford to miss out?

There are already a lot of resources already available to help make the transition from your current website, to a version suitable for many types of existing mobile platforms. So there is no time like the present to get started!

How to create them?

“If you are familiar with designing games for Flash, then Flash Lite shouldn’t present any major issues for you. Similarly, if you can design CSS-driven sites in Dreamweaver, it should be very simple to adapt your design focus for mobile screen sizes.” – Alec East.

Some great resources to get you started:

Wapple.net
Build and develop optimized mobile web sites, campaigns and applications

Mofuse.com
Build a mobile site, in minutes – Choose the right platform for your needs and you can build and launch your mobile site using our very intuitive & simple to use tools.

Winksite.com
Winksite is the first standards-compliant mobile Website builder that also includes RR-driven content deployment and mobile-tuning community features such as forum, chat, and polls.

mobiSiteGalore
mobiSiteGalore’s new mobile edition now makes it possible for you to build a complete mobile website all by yourself, with just your mobile phone.

Have you created a mobile website? Was it as simple as it sounds? We would love to hear your feedback!

Further Reading

7 usability guildelines for websites on mobile devices
Coding for the mobile web
Designing and developing mobile web sites in the read world, part 1
Design for mobiles
Designing for mobile web
Handset Detection – allows you to build websites which adapt to the browsing device
mobiForge – the world’s largest independent mobile development community
Mobile web design trends for 2009
The 5-minute CSS mobile makeover
The anatomy of an iPhone site
The mobile web – Vital for social networking; important for everyone else

If you would like further information about Armadillo Creative please telephone Anne Woodcock on 0191 257 8380

Compliancy Standards

Matt — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:15:38 +0000

Firstly you may be asking yourself what are Compliancy Standards? It

If you would like further information about Armadillo Creative please telephone Anne Woodcock on 0191 257 8380

60 Useful Wordpress Links, Plugins and Hacks

Caroline Murphy — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:14:20 +0000

Over the past year I have gradually been learning and developing skills in the art of Wordpress, a Content Management System for the masses – “WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.”

Here I would like to share some useful links that I have accumulated over this period – Enjoy!

10 Useful Links and Inspiration

Caroline Murphy — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:35:08 +0000

A quick round-up, in no particular order, of some websites I always tend to find myself referring back to. A mix bag of sites that you might find useful or inspiring.

Moleskine Girls by Julia Bereciartu

A collection of illustrations she creates using mixed media, in her moleskine.

ColourLovers.com

ColourLovers is a resource that monitors and influences color trends. ColourLovers gives the people who use color – whether for ad campaigns, product design, or in architectural specification – a place to check out a world of color, compare color palettes, submit news and comments, and read color related articles and interviews.

PingMag.jp

PingMag is an online design magazine based in Tokyo. Defining the term design as broadly as we can, PingMag writes about ideas and inspiration coming from both world class designers, and from the little store on the corner. We look at everything; product design, packaging, architecture, web design, typography, illustration, photography, fashion, programming, graphics, video, art, toys, traditional crafts, graffiti, set design

Armadillo Creative » Web

Always Remember to KISS – Keep it Short and Simple

Mobile websites are here to stay

Compliancy Standards

60 Useful Wordpress Links, Plugins and Hacks

Getting Started

Advanced and Misc

Plugins

Themes

10 Useful Links and Inspiration