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Rob Lawson Articles

Written by: Rob Lawson

The Future According To Augmented Reality - Click To Read Article
Many of us grew up with TV shows such as The Bionic Woman where ordinary people were given ‘super’ powers via special implants. This kind of imagining is now very close to reality. Augmented reality (AR) is literally changing how we view the world and how the world can interact with us. A taste of what is already and what is just around the corner includes massive transformations in every area of our lives from grocery shopping to education and health care …

Current Action In Augmented Reality - Click To Read Article
Augmented reality (AR) is not a brand new technology. But it is technology that has most commonly been used in gaming - more so than for general business or social media applications. This is changing rapidly as businesses and developers work fast to work out how this technology can help people experience the world in new and improved ways. Getting a handle on the basics of AR feels a bit like attending SciFi Class 101 – as the heart of AR is holograms (that bastion of great science fiction moments from Star Wars to 2001: A Space Odyssey) …

Creative Content – Inspiration or Imitation? - Click To Read Article
In this era of mash ups, appropriation, homages, re-makes, the boundaries of creative content ownership are getting pretty blurred. A recent billboard campaign in Times Square, New York sparked a massive online debate recently. The eye-catching advertisement was a live video of Times Square. Into shot now and then walks an attractive young woman (wearing clothing from Forever21, the brand being advertised). The women interact in various ways with the video – such as take a polaroid photo, pick people up and put them in their bag. It is exciting augmented reality (AR) technology. But it was not the first time the same concept had been used …

Twitter goes business - Click To Read Article
Social media is answering the call of the business world with social networking sites creating features specifically to assist and benefit businesses. With businesses' use of social media on the rapid increase, it was surely simply a matter of time before social networking sites began to adapt features of their sites to make things that little bit easier for companies to use social media for their business online. Social media platforms are becoming more of a viable, reputable business option rather than an online hobby reserved only for those particularly internet-savvy business folk.

Social web vs. searchable web - Click To Read Article
Web forums have become one of the most effective outlets for communication and relationship building on the Internet. These online discussion boards have been likened to equivalent of a modern bulletin board, but are for the sole purpose of expressing opinions, advice and learning from others. Today we access online discussion forums for technical support, community and product reviews, advice on anything from career choices to fashion to schooling to illness, and general discussion about things we are interested in. People can join forum groups with others that are due to have a baby in the same month as them, or with others of the same occupation, or dog breeders that breed the same dogs as you! Where once we sought out community groups in our area, we now turn more to the online world from the comfort of our desks or couches.

Online privacy: the fear and the solution - Click To Read Article
With all of the perks and benefits that come with the Internet - the easy networking ability, the access to real-time information from all of the world, the social media phenomenon, the way we can plan an entire day without leaving our desks - with all of these wonderfully convenient and appealing aspects of the online world, there is still that one dark cloud that seems forever to be hanging over the heads of web-users. The issue of online privacy - or more specifically, the lack thereof, seems to constantly be popping up in the evening news, at the office, and in millions of blogs the world over. So is it something we should all be worried about, or is it another needless concern?

The other side of social media: business networking - Click To Read Article
With social media comes a whole new way of connecting with others. As our friend list builds on Facebook, we realise that that keeping a relationship adrift with the written word is now a perfectly acceptable and viable alternative to meeting for coffee or picking up the telephone. Posting on somebody’s wall or replying to their blog post is just as acceptable as a teleconference call. In fact, we may have contacts that we have never even met or that we have never heard speak, but are as valuable an acquaintance as others whom we’ve known for years – especially when it comes to the business world. Social media is leaving the MySpace era of tweens and teens behind, and is now a perfectly acceptable mode of business networking.

The iPad: Meet the newest member of the Apple gang - Click To Read Article
It comes as no surprise that the latest gadget to hit the shelves fresh from the Apple factory has everyone over-excited. The iPad has, at its simplest, been called a sort of cross-breed between the iPhone and a normal laptop, and at its best been labelled a ‘game changer', taking technology into the 21st century. Whether you're a die-hard fan of Apple's technology or whether you roll your eyes at the sound of anything starting with that familiar ‘I-', no one can deny that the iPad has been released with quite a bang - and there are certainly some good reasons why.

Sharing is caring: video upload sites - Click To Read Article
Video sharing is now one of the major players in the game of online marketing. It makes sense - sure, every website needs terrific, keyword-full content to be able to attract, inform and engage a visitor. But how much easier is it to click a Play button and sit back and listen, then have to scroll through the unfortunately copious amounts of text many businesses feel they need to fill their website with. Videos are interesting, entertaining, easy to watch and can be relatively cheap to make. Many people learn better visually than through the usual text. And this is why video sharing has stepped up to the plate and hit a figurative home run for businesses across the online world.

The Unconference: Two Feet Into the Business World - Click To Read Article
With the Internet and the online world comes a brand new vocabulary to get our heads around - concepts with new names seem to be being created daily, and we all know that ‘tweeting' has nothing to do with birds. The latest utterance to find its way into the mouths of the internet-savvy is the term ‘unconference'. In a nut shell, an ‘unconference' is a conference that tries hard to be as little like a traditional conference as possible. Sound confusing? It's really not. It's a participant-driven gathering that is centered on a theme or purpose, without things like sponsorship or normal fees. The crowd does the presenting, and hired speakers are replaced with, well, anybody that wants to have their say. The people that want the conference event are the people that organize, plan, participate it, and run the event.

Living Stories: The Internet Strikes Again - Click To Read Article
As more and more of us choose to forgo darkening our fingers with newspaper pages and turn to opening web pages instead, we ask ourselves - are the days of sitting at the breakfast table with some toast and the Morning Herald soon to be a distant memory? It sure seems that way, as online news becomes more popular as more of us choose to access the latest news stories and updates via the Internet. As the world of online steadily integrates itself into our everyday lives, leaving many of ‘tech savvy' Generation Y wondering what ever did we do without it, it seems inevitable that staying in touch with the global community and knowing what is happening will become online activities too.

Domain name rules: What domain name would you choose if there were no limitations? - Click To Read Article
Up until now, the rules governing domain names have limited the flexibility and creativity businesses have had in creating unique domains. However, all that could change with an announcement from ICANN, the governing body, to relax the rules governing domain names in what is being touted as the most radical change to internet governance since the internet’s inception.

Cloud Computing: Look Up! There's a Computer Cloud Storm Approaching - Click To Read Article
The barrage of information and opinions surrounding cloud computing is drenching the web. What do you know about cloud computing (if anything)? Does it excite you? Scare you? Are you an early adopter or will you wait for some of the fall out to settle before entering the cloud? The phrase itself conjures up both a vista of endless possibility and a confusing place where it is hard to see.

Online Television: The Best of Both Worlds - Click To Read Article
With so many different digital mediums available to us at the moment, it was only a matter of time before someone began to merge and combine two of them together. It already happened with mobile phones and online social media, as the popularity of iPhones demonstrates to us. Then there is the Internet and television - two different mediums; one you use for all of your communication and information needs, the other is maybe more for entertainment use - something to sit down in front of after a long hard day, allowing you to mentally ‘switch off'. Yet considering how much time in a day we tend to spend in front of a computer nowadays, it's no surprise that online gurus are taking advantage of the popularity of television and have created Internet websites that allow you to choose which TV show or program you want to watch - on demand.

Twitter Away Part 1: Getting on the bike - Click To Read Article
Twitter. Even if you're not a net junkie, you will still have most certainly come across a mention of this social media as it is popping up everyone online - in the news, on blogs and forums, in online marketing information, and increasingly on business websites. This nifty little concept has been around since 2006, but it appears that the last year has really let Twitter take the reins of the social media realm and gallop full speed ahead in the lives of Internet users around the globe. It's not just celebrities and their die-hard fans crowding Twitter walls anymore - it has slowly made its way out of the ‘good for a laugh' category and become a major player in the legitimate business of social media for corporate use

Twitter Away Part 2: Making your business the main attraction - Click To Read Article
Nope, Twitter is most definitely not just for letting people know what you had for dinner last night or who you thought was the best dressed at the Oscars. Businesses are rapidly incorporating social media into their marketing strategies, and Twitter - the micro blogging service with millions of users worldwide - is by no means being left out of the game. Whether you're a one-man shop or a big corporation, social media for business can be the way that you connect with your current or potential clients, and Twitter is a quick, easy and increasingly popular way to do this.

No Junk Mail: Inbound Marketing - Click To Read Article
Everyone would agree that marketing to your target audience is an integral part of building your business. Sounds simple enough, but when it comes to online marketing, the avenues are endless. New web applications and concepts are constantly being developed, and with the Internet ever evolving, some can get a little muddled in their advertising efforts and go about their marketing the wrong way. Firstly, there are two major types of marketing - inbound and outbound. These are most easily defined by inbound being ‘permission' and outbound being ‘interruption'. Inbound marketing is the most effective way of attracting and maintaining the target markets your online strategy has identified.

Going Native: The Digital Immigrant Phenomenon - Click To Read Article
If you’re reading this, and are therefore using the Internet for information or research, then you are probably a ‘digital immigrant’. Sound strange? Well, we could assume that anyone that is aged over approximately 25 years and uses the Internet on a regular basis is a digital immigrant. After all, as a general definition, you are a digital immigrant if you were not born into the ‘digital age’ of computers, the Internet, email, mobile phones and the like, but have taken on these concepts as a natural part of your everyday life. Sounds like most of us out there, doesn’t it.

Social Media Optimization: Paving the Way of Connecting with Customers - Click To Read Article
We’ve heard of SEO and SEM, but SMO is the newest acronym to hit the online marketing world as we know it. SMO stands for Social Media Optimization, which is what you are doing when you use social media outlets (Facebook, for example) either on your website or externally, to attract visitors to your site. SMO allows you to appeal to a wider audience, connect with your customers, and become a part of an online community. Think it’s not for you? Read on to learn how every online business or website can benefit from SMO.

Social Media and the Age Old Question - Click To Read Article
The phenomenon of social media is taking the global internet world by storm. But who is exactly using social media, you may wonder. An increasing number of users of all ages are using social media for a number of reasons. With the rapid growth amongst older users, the majority of Facebook users in the United States are now over 25. Read on ...

Crowd Control: Sourcing Information From the Masses - Click To Read Article
With two of the most popular things to do on the Internet being research, and interaction with others, it’s obvious that when you combine the two, you will get fantastic results. And that is exactly what the online concept of ‘crowd sourcing’ is - opening up an idea that would normally be performed by one or a few people to a large group of people. Think online competitions from major companies allowing participants the chance to win some cash if they create or name a new product for them. Crowd sourcing is fast becoming a very popular way of businesses to gain interest, save money, and build relationships with the public.

Look out, there’s a (Google) wave coming - Click To Read Article
Google Wave is the newest online application that has got everyone talking. But just what is all the fuss about? From the creators of Google Maps, this new system allows the user to create a ‘wave’, a document slash conversation. In this wave, you can communicate through text, files, photos, and more in real time. This newest form of collaborative communication online is putting the person back behind the message.

GOOGLE WAVE PART 2: Grab your surfboard and catch a Wave - Click To Read Article
So the Google Wave has crashed onto the world shore. It’s the latest online sensation, but how exactly can it help your business? It’s all about collaborative communication – something that can be the key to success in you relationships with customers or colleagues. By using this unique system of communicating, you can enhance your business identity, relationships and overall efficiency.

When Words Are All You Have - Click To Read Article
Just what is keyword research and how can it help you? When searching a particular topic using search engines, people tend to use a handful of keywords to find content relating to that topic. When websites contain these keywords, the website achieves optimal rankings in search engine search results. This means more people will hit up your site. Keyword research is an integral part of your online marketing campaign.

Keep up with online shopping trends or risk becoming irrelevant on the web - Click To Read Article
The steady rise of online shopping is creating new oceans of opportunity for ecommerce websites and e-retailers. The dual factors of consumers’ online savvy and their fear of online fraud and identity theft create unique demands of the web retailer. And even if your business is not set up for online shopping, there are valuable lessons to be learned from online consumer experiences and feedback.

How the order of Google search results will be affected by new search capacity and what this means for your website - Click To Read Article
The last six months has seen the development of two major changes that will affect the order of Google search results. Google hopes these changes will improve search for users and also help them stay at the top of the search engine pile. Firstly is improving the ability of search spiders to read flash and audio-visual content, and secondly, the introduction of SearchWiki. Both developments will impact the way you think about search engine optimisation (SEO) and content for your website.

How mobile is your website - Click To Read Article
The use of mobile phones to access the internet is no longer just a trend for early adopters. This phenomenon has now gained a critical mass, and businesses wishing to market on the web, need to take the needs of mobile internet users into account when designing their site.

Gain the edge in a slowed economy by increasing your online spend - Click To Read Article
In the midst of an economic downturn, online media are defying the dismal trends of all other elements of the marketing mix, so increasing your online presence has never been more valuable or more important. This article examines how businesses can develop their online presence to gain an edge in a slowed economy. It looks at some case studies of what techniques some market leaders are employing to gain a competitive advantage online.

Building Consumer Confidence Online - Click To Read Article
The greatest challenge to businesses aiming to build a presence on the web is establishing brand credibility and consumer confidence online. The Internet provides a plethora of marketing opportunities to businesses of all types and sizes, but some of the considerations involved in successful online marketing are unique. For instance, the process often lacks human interaction, and as such creating consumer confidence online is difficult because potential customers are forced to determine whether or not to proceed with a transaction or interaction based on how credible they perceive the business to be.

As Belts Tighten Online Marketing Continues To Expand - Click To Read Article
What will be the impact of the global economic crisis on how businesses market themselves. The prediction is that the current trend to online consuming will rapidly accelerate over the coming year. It is also predicted that online marketing, due to its cost effectiveness and the ability to track and measure return on investment, will soar as well.





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