INK Digital Agency

I recently read an article by Suzanne Vara which details the 10 stages of new bloggers. It's definitely worth a read.  The article talks about the challenges new bloggers face, getting attention, building momentum and the 10 key stages:

1. Listener
2. Euphoria
3. Fear
4. Control
5. Isolation
6. Loathe
7. Destruction
8. Acceptance
9. Determination
10. and the final stage, Learning.

We all know that blogging is more than words on a page.  It's a commitment that goes far beyond the personal challenge of creating and maintaining.

According to research released by Neilsen social media has increased by 43% in the US over the last year.  This means that Americans spend nearly a quarter of their time online on social networking sites and blogs.

Research conducted by We're Social tells us that America is second to China amongst a long list of countries with large internet populations. 

As Royal Pingdom points out:

The tenth largest country on the Internet is Nigeria. So although Africa as a whole is often considered to be a bit behind the curve on the Internet, it does have a presence among the top countries.

Seven out of the top 20 countries are Asian.

Five out of the top 20 countries are European. Six if you count Russia.

Three of the top 20 are English-speaking countries. Four if you count India

So what does all this mean?  When you compare the countries total population size to the number of internet users, it becomes very clear where there is potential for massive growth.

Is your website working for you? How your website can make your business money will be the focus of this session run by Helen Darlington and Tony Pye from Ink Digital Agency. We've been invited to host an interactive discussion at the chamber of Commerce August event! http://www.bradfordchamber.co.uk/eventsSummary.asp?EventsID=2247

I'm sorry we didn't spot this earlier... an article posted at the end of July has only just caught our attention, I know, it's not like us to be behind the times.  20 Ways to make your website cr*p is an article which is just putting into print, what we've all thought at some point.

Use A Free Hosting Company
Have No Content Above The Fold
Have A Splash Page
Create Your Website Just With Flash
Not Check Your Website For Cross Browser Compatibility
Have Music Playing On Your Website
Opt In For A Second Best Domain
Link To Non Existing Pages
Lock Copy And Pasting
Build Your Website Out Of Tables
Have Annoying Pop-Ups
Slow Loading Pages
Having A Counter On Your Website
Stupid Repeating Background Images
Use A Bad Color Palette
Use Stupid Text Effects
Being Inconsistent
Having To Scroll Horizontally Across Websites
Using Rubbish Alternative Software
Animated Gif’s And General Rubbish

We'd love it if you would nominate us!

If you like http://panpeninsula.com/, please consider nominating it or @inkcreations for The .net 2010 awards. http://bit.ly/1998Ql - For interactive site of the year!

The new dynamic 3D apartment finder is live! We're delighted to announce that the new dynamic, 3D apartment finder for Pan Peninsula has launched today. http://www.panpeninsula.co.uk/#/Plans/Finder. 

WOW! Another lovely testimonial from Monarch:

"How exciting! I am going to call the PR agency and let them know so they can announce it to the world!!!!!

Fantastic job guys, I am really proud to send our customers to our new and amazing website!" Emma Harrhy

A face lift for Monarch and a new direction. We've been working with Monarch now for around 4 years on various digital projects. Today sees the launch of the newly restyled and restructured Monarch Shop, but that's not all. Today also sees the launch of the new Reseller website.

Monarch sell most of their products via 3rd party resellers. The new reseller website is aimed at increasing the number of national resellers.

Both new website have a fresh, fun and colourful exterior, but there's also some pretty cool stuff going on under the hood. Why not check them out by visiting http://www.monarchuk.com & http://shop.monarchuk.com.

The last week saw INK in print again, a couple of times.

Web is way to success written by Farhana Haque about how INK push the boundaries of web.  Click here to read the full article.

In the chair is a column where each week a prominent business person is asked about the lives, loves and successes.  This weeks profile shares an insight into Helen Darlington, our Head of Creative, and her likes and dislikes.  Click here to read the full article.

We're quickly becoming known as a resource for other agencies.  We're specialists at what we're do, and this is being recognised by other creative agencies across the UK. We're delighted to have this status and as such we're getting the opportunity to work on some really cool stuff.  Today we've received an order from a fantastic South Yorkshire based creative agency which will allow us to work on a cool animation for Business Link.

Knight Frank are regarded as the market leader for high quality commercial and residential property throughout the UK.  Why are we telling you this?  It's because we're working with them again on an advertising campaign for their Spanish and Balearic properties... it's so cool.  More animated and interactive advertising using Atlas.

The weather is warming up and so are the girls from INK.  We're all running to raise money for Cancer Research, such a worthy cause. Unfortunately most of us know someone whose been effected by this sneaky disease so we're doing what we can to raise money to help fight the battle and reduce the effect of cancer.  We would love you to sponsor us or come along to Scarborough on the 18th July at 11am to support us in our efforts.  We're not the fittest bunch of geeks so no doubt there'll be a few red faces at the finish line.  Below you'll find links to each of our profiles and if you can dig deep and sponsor us it will be greatly appreciated.

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/vickynewton 

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/helendarlington

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/katiekimber

We're chuffed to bits.  Over the past few months we've been working really hard to prove to Sheffield Council that we're the right choice for them.  Anyway, it turns out that after 5 months, 2 proposals and a PQQ that we've done it.  We're now the chosen Digital Agency for Sheffield Council for the next 2 years. We can't wait to meet the team from Sheffield and get cracking on some creative and innovative projects for them.

Really sorry, we've not been keeping our news blog up to date over the past month.  Things have just been so crazy here.  We are updating this page in the next few days though so please come back, we've got loads to tell you.

Yet another innovative solution produced by us for the health and fitness industry! We've recently launched the first hand held device for signing up new members ANYWHERE in club.  This solution is based on the very successful income generation kiosk system we developed.  Adapted for a hand-held unit this membership sales interface is friendly and easy to use.  To find out more please visit our showcase!

A new addition to the Pan Peninsula website was launched this morning! Streaming movies which automatically change from Flash to HTML 5 have been added to the luxurious Pan Peninsula website this morning.  Not only do they look amazing on your PC but they also look amazing on your iPhone, and other mobile devices.  Go on, take a look.

Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday dear INK, Happy Birthday to us!  If you haven't guessed it's our birthday today and we're 8 years old!!  We're celebrating in total sophistication with caterpillar cake, silly hats, pizza and lashings of pink fizz.

A huge thank you to everyone who's supported us throughout the years!

We're delighted to announce the launch of our latest website, Pan Peninsula! This is our third project for for Ballymore Properties.  We were asked to produce something really special to help promote the remaining apartments available at Pan Peninsula. Pan Peninsula itself is something very special, it's the tallest all-residential building in Europe, situated on the waterfront next to Canary Wharf this development offers ultimate luxury living in the city.  We're incredibly proud of the work we've produced. For those of you who geek out at the same stuff we do... the site is a combination of Flash10, JQuery, .Net4 and MVC2. For more information check out our showcase.

We're one of the UK's recommended agencies! We received the official certificate in the post this morning which confirms we're one of the UK's top agencies for Corporate Communications, Design and Digital and Integrated Solutions, as voted for by our clients!

The certificate is up in the office, pride of place in the glass pod.

This is all confidential and we have no idea which clients have voted for us.  

What we do know, however, is that one of you guys said "Helen is so helpful and always willing to talk through everything with us and help in anyway possible, nothing is ever a problem however last minute my requests are! Helen has an excelled knowledge and skills base as do the rest of the team at Ink. There is always someone in the team who can do what is needed to an amazing standard. Ink are a company who add value and strength to our sales and marketing team, and always produce a high standard product and service".  To the person who wrote this, thank you.  We were all chuffed to bits to read this lovely testimonial.

Thank you so much, to all our clients who have taken the time to "rate us"!  We recently asked some of the people we'd worked with to spare 5 minutes and rate the service they'd received from us.  

All of this was completely confidential, we don't have a clue who's written what.  All we do know, is that we've been rated very highly and are now one of the UK's Recommended Agencies for Corporate Communications, Design and Digital & Integrated Solutions.

With a 98% Advocacy rating, we're really pleased.  Thank you!

We've received comments such as: "Ink are such a friendly yet professional company, they have so many creative ideas and are always able to execute and deliver within the timeframe needed.  I would absolutely recommend Ink to anyone who needs energy, creativity and fresh thinking for a new or existing project."

There are others we'd love to tell you about, but this news item would end up being so lengthy you wouldn't read much more. Thank you again to those who have already taken part, and those of you who haven't, there's still time!

Streamline Broadbean! We know how important it is for businesses to streamline their administration processes where possible. We're all so busy these days any time that can be saved on a daily basis is a great help. We've recently helped another client reduce the amount of time they spend on administration.  Leeds based IT recruitment company, Fruition, now have a very slick system in place, thanks to us and Broadbean.  We've worked together to create a very slick process (using WebServices) to enable Fruition to promote all their vacancies onto their website without any additional time spent copying and pasting.

Who says there's a north south divide?  We're working with another top London agency at the moment, producing animated expandable adverts for a marketing campaign.  Once again we've been contacted for our expertise with Microsoft Atlas.  

If it's moving, animated, expanding advertising you're after, they can also include movie clips, then get in touch, we'd love to hear from you.

We've made it onto the Recommended Agency Register!

We're delighted to have been accepted onto such a prestigious register.  If you've not heard about RAR before it's a unique resource for marketing professionals that makes it simple to source, select and engage the right marketing suppliers.  Some of our clients have already made a special effort to rate our performance and leave some really lovely comments.  Check out www.agencyregister.co.uk/inkdigital/ for more info.

According to #NMA European Court clears trademark search terms.  European lawmakers have cleared the way for advertisers to buy search keywords trademarked by rivals.  The European Court of Justice has ruled in favour of Google. For more information visit www.nma.co.uk

Ever wondered where the crease is? Here's a nice little tool that will help you out. http://bit.ly/d812JZ

According to #NMA Exposure to online display and video ads boosts visits to brand websites.

Online display and video advertising drives users to visit a brand’s website and raises the number of search queries for the brand, according to research by ComScore and online video network .Fox Networks.

They examined the effectiveness of online video and display ads for four undisclosed campaigns in the travel, finance, government and utilities sectors.

By comparing the behaviour of internet users who were exposed to the campaigns with a control group of panellists who didn’t see them, the study found video and display ads increased brand engagement for each of the advertisers.... for more information visit www.nma.co.uk. 

Amazon drops complete support for Internet Explorer 6 ... http://ow.ly/1qun8P
#Internet #Explorer #Web #Browsers

And if Amazon can do it... should everyone else?

What do you think? Should this be the 2014 Commonwealth Games logo? http://ow.ly/1oL7L

Green marketing. The difference between belief and presumption. http://ow.ly/1oLaD

Meet skipfish - Googles free, open source, automated web security scanner: http://bit.ly/9pG4em

Is social media affecting Business to Business Buying Behavior http://tinyurl.com/yjv9w69

Is there a relationship between hosting and SEO?

Ever wondered if there's a relationship between your website #hosting and how it performs in the search engines (#SEO)?

If you have, you'll no doubt find this article very interesting. http://tinyurl.com/yzp4dom

Karen's very Rocky Road!  WOW!!!  Karen brought in the most amazing home made rocky road... no doubt using all her project management powers to ensure the correct timings and right amount of creativity was used; Karens rocky roads were so scrummy!  Thankfully the girls in the office are taking part in this years Race for Life, so a few extra calories here and there won't matter too much.  The boys will probably have to line up and take it in turns on the office wii.

Welcome Faith!

We're delighted to announce Faith Turner has joined our team! It's great to have you on-board Faith, welcome to the team!

The brownie off was a huge success!

We've been truly spoilt this week! The competitiveness in the office has paid off.  

Yesterday Tom brought in home-made brownies, they were so cakey and soft and light, they were a very welcome mid morning treat.  

Not wanting to be beaten, Vicky brought in her home-made brownies this morning.  They were less cakey, more gooey with chunks of white chocolate and had a hint of chilli.  It's such a tough call to make to tell you which were enjoyed most because they were both amazing.  I think another batch each is in order before we make a decision.

The culinary expertise in the team is amazing, but we could all do with more practise, so another round of baking anyone?

Atlas isn't just a map... it's also a digital marketing platform! We've recently created the digital advertising for Ballymores 21 Wapping Lane development.  We've implemented moving, expandable banners and video content, it's pretty high-end stuff, even for us!

The Cake Off is far from over!

The Muffin Man has entered the competition today.  A late arrival from Tony but he's definitely one of the front runners. Okay, so the chocolate orange gooey muffins weren't the prettiest contender by far... they had bulged over the top of their cases, they had cracks in them and hard bits all the way around.  But, when you bit into the lightest softest chocolate sponge you were greeted with what can only be described as a runny Jaffa Cake orange centre... mmmmmmm!!!

There's still talk of Tom and Vicky going head to head in a brownie cook off.  But let's face it, we're all winners in the office with this cake off!!

We have a new home and it's great!

WOW! we've been so busy since the office move we've not had chance to tell you what we've been doing!

Starting with our new home, it's amazing! We have space to roam around; we have a glass pod which is used for people who would like a bit of quiet time to concentrate or for meeting you guys; we have a relaxation area because we all know a 5 minute rest to clear your head can really help with the problem solving; we have a mural on the wall, a TV in the corner, pretty pictures everywhere, comfy seats, big desks, it's lovely!!

We'd love you to come and visit us for a cup of tea and a chat in our new home, so why not get in touch?

We're moving!  Over the last few weeks we've been having our new office designed and built and today is the big moving day. We'd love you to come and see us in our new home.

Another new Ballymore development is under way.  

We've launched the new holding page for this amazing new London development, visit www.embassy-quarter.co.uk for a sneaky peak.

The Cake Off continues!

Today saw Vicky proudly strut into the office with her home made carrot cake.  Decorated with walnuts and cream cheese frosting it is the softest sweetest carrot cake.  Fighting over the middle chunks, which were larger and taller than the rest, Vicky, Tony and Rich sat stuffing their faces for a few minutes longer than Helen and Tim.  Unfortunately those who are out of the office today have missed a real treat. Also, we now have a new baking champion, well done Vicky, that was amazing!!!

The Life, Times (and Death?) of Internet Explorer 6 (Comic Strip) makes for very funny reading!!

You can view the full comic genius by visiting Smashing Magazine http://su.pr/8Cy0Jo.

The new Ballymore Properties development, 21 Wapping Lane has a shiny new website!

We've developed the site to be fully content managed, W3C compliant with simple animation to keep the visitors interest. The photography is amazing and is a fantastic backdrop to a very elegant website.

With a full strategic SEO campaign we're hoping to generate so hot leads for this new development in Wapping Village, London. Visit our showcase for more information.

Wow! We're really feeling the love at the moment, with another amazing testimonial from the iMonSys guys.  Thank you so much for all the lovely things you've said about us.

If you'd like to read more about the work we completed for iMonSys check out our showcase.

iMonSys is developing a new product, codenamed "Verity".  The product is a mobile platform designed to deliver enhanced, integrated personal monitoring and communications at a very competitive price.

Today has seen the launch of the iMonSys website.  For more information why not check out this cool new idea by visiting http://inkdigitalagency.com/portfolio/carousel/53.

The Cake Off continues!

Today saw Tom and his homemade lemon fairy cakes waltz into the office. With edible glitter, patterned icing and the softest sweetest cake, the champion of all champions so far!  Shame there's only enough for one each!  Thanks Tom!

The Cake Off at INK!

It all started with Rich bringing in home made muffins, fruity, squishy, tasty muffins.  A few days later Katie brought in some home made chocolate rice-crispie and marshmallow squares which were lovely and sweet and very moreish.

The next week Helen brought in some home made, full fat, rocky roads which were devoured with lots of "mmmmmm's".

Today saw Tim's scrummy raspberry muffins.  Although they were all misshapen, they tasted fantastic.  I think we'll all chip in and buy Tim a muffin tin for his next Birthday.

We're currently working on 2 fantastic development projects for Ballymore.  We'll have more information on our work for Ballymore next week when we launch a brand new website for 21 Wapping Lane.

We're moving offices!!  Our team has grown and we're all a little cosy in our current office, plus poor Tom is currently nestled between a cupboard and a radiator. So we're moving to a shiny new office. It's so shiny and new it's being built for us. You will still be able to find us in the Elsie Whiteley Innovation Centre, but from the 1st March we'll be on the 5th floor.  

We're working on a top secret project at the moment which we'll be unveiling on the 10th February. It's all very hush hush, we'll keep you posted.

A new website for CityHeart, a northern development company, is going live tomorrow.  CityHeart are a fantastic company and they are currently working on developing the local area around our office building.  Check out our showcase for more information.

WOW! What a client review.  We've recently launched the FruitionIT website and here's what Sarah has to say about working with INK:

We have recently rebranded our business to Fruition IT so decided to take the opportunity to refresh our website. Our old website was very dated and static and being an IT recruitment agency it was essential our new site caught the attention of IT professionals.

We wanted a website that was up to date, user friendly but most importantly somehow represented our brand and our business. We decided to speak to Ink about our requirements who immediately came up with lots of ideas about what would work (and what wouldn’t!) Helens approach to finding out what we were looking for was really refreshing, she is super creative, very honest and her intuitive nature means they can turn ideas into something visual in the shortest of timescales. Tim did a fantastic job on the development of our site, and was very quick to make any changes we requested. Within a 3 week period we now have a fantastic website that truly represents everything our business is about.

Thanks so much to the team at Ink, we are looking forward to working with you again shortly for the integration stage to our candidate management system. 

Why not take a look at the new FruitionIT website by visiting http://www.fruitionit.co.uk.

We've launched the BRAND NEW look Bankside Health club website today.  The website is fully content managed and allows Bankside to update text, images and navigation. http://tinyurl.com/ydeudqg

We've just launched the new website (with bespoke CMS) for Leeds based recruitment agency, Fruition IT http://www.fruitionit.co.uk.

In the next couple of months we will integrate the Fruition IT website with their in-house management system, Broadbean.

21 Wapping Lane, the NEW Ballymore site has a holding page. The full site will be live within the next couple of weeks.  You can see the vibe by visiting http://tinyurl.com/yb36btk

Our team has grown again... We'd like to welcome Tom Hey to the INK design team. 

We've just launched the BRAND NEW Longworth Associates website with a bespoke CMS allowing them to update EVERYTHING! http://tinyurl.com/ycmh6r9

Fantastic!! The Shreddies' knitting nanas are back.  Shreddies have signed Carry On actor Leslie Philips to be part of the new ad.  http://tinyurl.com/yg4jtl4

This is a really nice read, it's a letter to a young programmer -http://bit.ly/8z2CJW.

Welcome to our new #Asp.net #MVC2 website!! There's not a single piece of Flash to be found.  With some really cool JavaScript effects we hope you enjoy the new look Ink.

We're in this month's Figaro Digital for our work on the first self service kiosk for the health and fitness industry... check it out online! http://bit.ly/6pTe8h

The mood at the Wharf has changed. Check out the new video to see the developments personality by visiting http://www.baltimorewharf.com.

The new LA Fitness buy online is live!

We had a fantastic afternoon paint balling yesterday, in the snow! It was a very close call but our last minute sub, won the day for us.

What have a group of web geeks organised for their work Christmas bash? We challenged film producers Limehouse to paintball, bring it on!!!

Alesha Dixon is the new face of LA fitness!

Talk about ROI! The industries first self service kiosk app, developed by us for LA fitness for selling gym memberships is a huge success!

We're adding Britain's first in-the-city Country Club to the new Baltimore Wharf website! Have a look at http://www.baltimorewharf.com

We've just rolled out the Health & Fitness industries first ever self service kiosk web application selling gym memberships for LA fitness!

Currently on trial in 8 clubs we're hoping to roll out the new LA fitness self service gym membership kiosk to the other 70 odd clubs soon.

Phase 1 of our first .NET4/MVC2 site just went live, hosted on Win2008. Check out the site here http://bit.ly/61PUt2. #jquery #mvc#iis7

We wanted to use Silverlight Smooth Streaming for video but 360s were already done in Flash and we wanted to limit the amount of plugins.

Likewise with Bing Maps, but the ariel shots were more complimentary on Google. We're primed for the next project though.

We have a new recruite! Vicky has joined the Ink development team!