Sometimes clients are resistant to the idea – the word itself can still be an obstacle with people not entirely sure what it means. It does have a charmingly retro-feel – to me infographic sounds like a 1950s public service film telling you about the end of rationing.

So it’s somewhat ironic that this simple ‘words and pictures’ device is in fact an increasingly popular online visual aid which can cleverly present facts and stats in a sometimes witty and visually appealing way. The good ones anyway. There are certain important things to remember when creating an infographic.

1. Rule number one.

Don’t use an infographic to sell stuff.

The whole point is that the message must be subliminal; by drawing your reader/viewer in with perhaps random but nevertheless fascinating bits of knowledge, you can expose your brand or tell a story and quietly draw them into your world and with a teensy click, your website.

The reason great infographics go viral is because people appreciate the intelligence or flair behind them. Not because they want to pass on a great 50% off deal on a sofa.

2. Rule number two.

Don’t let fancy shmancy typography or quirky symbols get in the way of the facts.

This is a real no-no. Of course good infographics require an aesthetic sensibility and sharp technical prowess but most of all you do actually need to lay out your data into pictures which make sense. Once the infographic (or datavisualisation, also known, more catchily as a dataviz) stops being an informative tool because it’s just too cool or beautiful, it’s not doing its job anymore.

3. Rule number three.

Don’t forget you’re telling a story

The way you organise your material is critical. You need a beginning , a focal point in the middle which explains the premise though logical progression and then a nice little ending to wind things up.

4. Rule number four

Get to grips with the info part

Copy, or at least the editorial thought behind the infographic, can be as important as the visual treatment (but don’t let the designers know I said that). So you need to understand the point the presentation of the information is making, capture attention and make sure the reader gets something out of it when they’re done.

5. Rule number five.

Sometimes a bar chart will do just fine.

Don’t go jumping on the infographic bandwagon unless the information you need to present really warrants it. It’s all very well creating something which goes madly viral if it’s clever-clever notoriety you’re after. But if the message is lost in the cleverness then maybe this isn’t the right option after all. Unless your information has several layers and there is a story to tell, something sharp and simple might do the trick better.

Here are some of my personal infographic favourites:

This one cleverly uses the familiarity of a Facebook page as its starting point, then packs in a huge amount of detail into what is a complex scenario. The copy is fun too.

Created by: MBAOnline.com

Back to Blighty now for a fascinating look at the social media impact of Wills and Kate getting hitched. I like the way the design is wonderfully clean but has a tongue-in-cheek royal parchment feel to it.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/The-Royal-Weddings-Social-Impact-INFOGRAPHIC/1977405

I wanted to include one which maybe isn’t so much fun but is a great example of how to use maps and signs to convey fairly dry statistics. The numbers alone would be hard to comprehend – the infographic is the perfect vehicle to convey some actually very interesting trends.

http://mashable.com/2011/06/09/global-internet-traffic-infographic/

And this one I couldn’t resist – any clients reading, please understand, we don’t mean you.

From: TopWebDesignSchools.org

For those not familiar with the details, in May last year an update to the UK’s Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations made it illegal for websites to use cookies without first gaining consent from their visitors. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) quickly decided to give UK website owners an extra year to comply (not least because most government websites were not ready), but that time is now almost up.

The new deadline is the 25^th May 2012.

Why have they created the law?

The law began its life as an EU directive passed in 2009. In a nutshell, it’s intended to improve your privacy online. Cookies are little text files placed on your computer by a website when you visit. They work like a little tracking device – by placing the cookie on your computer a website or network of websites can recognise your machine the next time you visit. All very big brother.

Among other things they are used by website owners for analytics purposes to track what you do when you visit their site, which pages you visit, which links you click, that sort of thing. If you’ve paid for, logged in, or registered for anything online then the website most likely used cookie technology to make that possible. They are also used extensively by online advertisers. Without going into the details, if you’ve ever been followed around the internet by an online banner ad from a particular company, it’s almost certainly down to a cookie on your computer.

There’s plenty of online discussion about the new law. You can find out lots more about cookies here, the effect it had when the ICO implemented it on their site (short answer: destroyed their analytics), and why despite the good intentions behind it, lots of people think it’s actually a bad idea. Regardless of your viewpoint, it’s a law, so if you own or are responsible for a website that uses cookies (and the vast majority do) you need to take action.

How do I comply with the law?

According to the ICO’s guidance, in order to comply with the law your website must:

• tell people that the cookies are there,
• explain what the cookies are doing, and
• obtain their consent to store a cookie on their device.

The exception to this is if the cookies used are essential for the correct functioning of the website service requested by the subscriber or user e.g. a login area.

With that in mind, we’ve put together some recommended steps that you should consider taking:

1. Cookie audit – audit your site for cookies: find out which ones it uses and whether they fall into the essential/strictly necessary category or not.
2. Privacy page update – update (or create if you don’t have one) your website’s privacy page to detail which cookies your site uses and what they do.
3. Add a cookie button/link – add a prominent cookie button or link to your site. More on what this should say/do below.

For sites that use cookies, I would suggest that all three steps above are a must. The bit that’s still open to interpretation is how step 3 should work.

Different companies have taken different approaches. For example, John Lewis have gone for a (fairly) prominent link at the top of their site, while BT are using a temporary pop-up and strip of icons along the bottom. Currently, both have assumed implied consent on the part of the web visitor i.e. they’re still placing cookies on your machine unless you take specific action to opt out. I’m not a lawyer but it strikes me that assuming consent is pretty different to obtaining consent. It’ll be interesting to see the ICO’s take on this approach (stony silence so far – very helpful).

Elsewhere in its guidance document, the ICO states it is “highly unlikely to prioritise first party cookies used only for analytical purposes in any consideration of regulatory action”. If your site’s cookies are used solely for analytics then going down the implied consent route is probably ok for now (but as I mentioned above, I’m not a lawyer).

Some final thoughts

Well done for reading this far – it’s a pretty dry subject.

Depending on how strictly the ICO enforces the law for analytics cookies, we could see a resurgence of the server-side analytics market (more or less all the information about what people do when they visit your site is stored in your website server logs).

We’re keen to help companies meet the new regulations and can create a bespoke solution for your site based on the cookies you use. Please get in touch if you’d like to talk through the options available.

For both B2B and B2C marketers, it’s more important than ever to get under the skin of your customers; to unlock a real understanding of what your audience actually wants, to engage with them further, and in the process hold onto them, and reach more like them.  This understanding will guide both your offline and online marketing strategy, reduce wastage and focus your activity when time is as precious as your budget.

From large energy companies to independent theatres, car dealers to professional services marketers, the music industry to the hospitality sector, understanding the segments you perform well in, who your most profitable customers and clients are, and the reasons why they stay with you can be the most valuable knowledge you hold.

Increasingly we are supporting clients by running workshops with their key people to learn more about what customers think, buy, use and how they want to interact with their suppliers.  Beyond this, segmenting your existing database using geodemographics to identify your top performing profiles and their life-time-value, and in the case of B2B customers understanding who the economic buyer and key influencers are, what they look like and how they buy is paramount to marketing success.

In the motor industry, customer relationship marketing is becoming increasingly crucial to customer retention, and achieving referrals.  Customers often replace their cars before their finance agreements expire, and loyalty is increasingly hard-fought in the after-sales relationship.  To limit customer migration, forming a relationship from day one is imperative.  Retaining an after-sales relationship gives a dealer time to build relationships by providing great service, increasing the likelihood of the repeat sale through understanding the lifecycle of vehicle ownership. Customer journey planning, loyalty programmes and well-planned communication are increasing retention for those forward-thinking enough to engage in these tactics and invest in the future rather than solely conquest sales which are infinitely more expensive to achieve.

For clients such as high-end cosmetic services clients, understanding the different needs and motivations of the audience which can be defined around their age group and lifestyle, allows services as well as communications to be designed around the distinct customer segments and creates an offering truly designed around its customers.

For professional services firms, the relationships with clients tend to be nurtured and owned by the lead partner on their account, and often clients remain unaware of the other services of the firm.  The challenge then is for business development teams to understand the potential of clients to engage further with the firm, to design communications which increase awareness of the firm’s full offering and to create opportunities for clients to engage with the wider team.  Even more important then, to keep the database clean and up-to-date, create a picture of the buyers and how to engage with them and to do so on their terms.

Marketers traditionally associated segmentation models with direct marketing; however clearly defining your audience applies equally to media planning, your content development strategy for your website and social channels, and product and service development. Time and time again we are finding that discovering as much as you possibly can about your audience can make a remarkable difference to the effectiveness of your marketing strategy. Right now it’s probably the most important activity that clients and agencies can engage in.

In recent months the rise and rate of growth of pinterest.com has created many an industry headline. Only last week it became the third biggest social media site over in the US. In case it’s a mystery Pinterest offers a fresher take (though that’s debatable) on how to bookmark, share images and sources of inspiration you have found on the web. It’s a giant online collection of your and everyone else’s personally tailored pin boards.

Once registered or invited (we’re happy to extend an invitation, just ask) you can create boards for absolutely anything you’d care to. Because of the community aspect you can follow those out there with similar tastes or even keep in touch with friends past and present.

Be warned though, it’s pretty addictive. Just one more pin… usually becomes several.

We’re still exploring how we could best use Pinterest, but we can easily envisage mood boards being created for projects that are about to start, or even as a channel of showing work in progress and life inside the studio.

Come and join us or have a look at what’s been catching our eye and rocking our world of late.

pinterest.com/thelaneagency/

Along with interests in most things creative, designers generally love films. The short, the long, the blockbuster, the independent, the silent (hello Oscars) and pretty much anything that can captivate or hold your imagination. Especially the ones that leave you thinking about them when you wake up the next day.

Designers can also be a bit ‘precious’ about their clothes. Some aspire to be at the very zenith of style by looking as though they’ve spilled from the pages of Dazed&Confused magazine. Others love their shoes, like REALLY love their shoes. Personally I’m partial to a t-shirt or two.

Last Exit to Nowhere is a company that unites a love of design, films and fashion. The LETN staff are self confessed film geeks. They’ve chosen to show their passions by creating an ever increasing range of t-shirts that use companies, organisations and sometimes locations as their inspiration. These subjects feature in some of LETN ‘s favourite films. The t-shirts they create are stylish, but knowingly subtle enough in their detail that primarily it’s only other film aficionados or those in the know that will get the reference. A bit of mild film snobbery but because the designs rock and because it’s done very knowingly it works a treat.

From Shawshank penitentiary, to Amity Island and Quint’s shark fishing. The Overlook hotel in Colorado, Off-world colonies, Skynet and Cahulawassee river tours all feature.

So next time you see Ripley being chased by Aliens check out the Weyland Yutani branding that’s all over the sets. Or when John McClane is on the run from terrorists in Die Hard, that Nakatomi Plaza identity might just become a bit more familiar.

To see the range of products that LETN to stock check out www.lastexittonowhere.com

Our working environment has a direct impact on our work and of course how we feel about work. Especially with the amount of hours we spend at the office. It’s true that creative environments foster and attract creative minds.

Some of us have a passion for colour. Some have a passion for type. Some, a passion for inspirational quotes.  Some, all three. Rather than going with one route we thought let’s just have a bit of everything. In moderation of course. Ultimately we want to surround yourself with things you like. So the colours for the walls were chosen, inspired by our pantone mugs, handprinted typographic letterpress prints were ordered and the piece de resistance? We’re putting the final touches to it, so all will be revealed in due course.

Oh…and the best bit of the décor in my opinion is the chalkboard wall. We’ll keep you up to date with this and the interesting scribbles that appear on there. Before being rubbed out. It’s just received it’s last coat of paint and we’re all waiting patiently to be let loose with the chalk.

We’ve made a start and no doubt there will be additions along the way; lettering for the boardroom, signage for the hallway, and whatever else takes our fancy. We’ll keep you updated with pics.

“Being everywhere” is at last being seen as wasteful, with more of our clients working with us to define their audiences and understand which channels will perform best for distinct target audiences.  For some clients, that may not just be the big boys like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, it may well include specialist social channels.

2012 will definitely see photo and video-based social media activity continuing to grow too. With mobile phone cameras increasing in quality, more marketers are realising the power of imagery taken through the eyes of their users.

As SMEs and marketing departments become even more stretched in terms of resource, many have realized the benefits in enlisting our support in creating great content.  Having the creativity, copywriting skills and the clarity of thought to create timely, effective content to engage distinct audiences is not always possible with the demands of the daily working environment for most clients.

Social media has matured, and to harness its benefits so must marketers and businesses in enlisting strategic support for a channel that’s here to stay.

With 48.67% of the market share (social networking & forum visits for last week), Facebook stands out ahead in an area where Google products dominate the surrounding markets.

Google has dominated many verticals over the years – search being the obvious one, but also top entertainment website (Youtube receiving 19.46% of visits compared to the BBC website only taking 6.55% of the share) and travel website (Google Maps UK), but seem unable to shift Facebook’s dominance, even with the recent launch of Google +.

Twitter in 3rd place with only 3.77% of the market share for the week. However the data only reflects website traffic and does not include mobile devices which Twitter users are more likely to use to access the service (which in itself is an interesting point to note).

A surprise entry in 10th place is MoneySavingExpert forums with 0.48% of the market share. Giving the niche nature of the website it is impressive that it can compete with more generic websites, although given the current economic climate, it isn’t unusual that it has mass market appeal.

It isn’t easy. You don’t just have to compete with other local businesses, but with businesses from across the country (and in some cases, across the world) – and you’re also up against blogs, forums, directories and a multitude of other websites. To top it all off, search engines have began to customise local results so there’s less space “above the fold” for natural results.

But this change by the search engines is actually a good thing – it is aimed at giving actual local businesses a bit of an edge on relevant, local searches – because, after all it is you the searchers are looking for!

Get listed on Google Places to make your mark on local search results.

Here are some top tips for local SEO in terms of getting ranked and getting noticed.

1. Verify your Google Places listing. This is a great first step – any local businesses listed in Google places will appear next to the maps on local search results.
1. Be sure to encourage some of your customers to review you as your review ratings appear below your website’s name in search results. But remember it’s illegal in the UK to post fake reviews!
2. Include your address and contact details on every page of your website. Not only is this good business practice (it helps raise your customer’s confidence in using your website), it can help local search engine rankings.
3. Get listed on review websites. Sites such as Qype and Yelp are great as you can setup business profiles are free and any reviews posted are included in Google local search results. Happy days!
4. Sort out your old school SEO stuff! It’s surprising how effective just optimising on page factors can be in an uncompetitive market. Make sure your page title tags include your location in a natural fashion. For example, “ABC Accounting Services – Edinburgh, Midlothian”.
1. And make sure your Meta descriptions are well written, to the point and contain your target keyword AND location. If it does rank well, then search engines will likely use your piece of text as the description – isn’t that handy?
5. Read, learn and implement Schemas. Schemas are used by search engines to generate rich snippets in search results, so if you sell a product, host an event, write for a blog or numerous other functions that are covered, then you should be marking up your HTML as appropriate. If your listing stands out from others then it’s likely you’ll see more traffic from your rankings.

Anyone else have any tips for local SEO?

Scott

They are the longest established Autism charity in Scotland but not many people know this. We’re working on a brand new website for them. It’s more grown up and will definitely make them be heard. Scottish Autism have given us a big challenge. We’re eager to get going and deliver their message to the public.