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Welcome to Winter!

We are scarily close to the middle of another year and winter weather has finally arrived, which of course is great news for the skiers who are hanging out to start using their new season passes.

At Lemon HQ things are busy as usual, made busier by the occasional hiccup, like the recent appearance of Graham’s pic in the Press business pages under a less than inspiring headline.

For any of our clients who glanced at the combination of headline and Graham’s photo and thought we were in trouble, then read on to find out the article was in fact about Safi Technologies, we appreciate your concern and your support. Both of us received a number of concerned calls and emails from clients and business contacts who were unimpressed with the way our local newspaper had managed to suggest hairyLemon was in trouble, when that clearly isn’t the case.

Undeterred, Graham is off again for another two weeks in the US, continuing to generate overseas revenue and touching base with our US clients.

We were also happy to see some of you join us for a Google AdWords seminar last week – great information from our inhouse SEO guru Aidan on how businesses can get started with AdWords.

hairyLemon BarNow that we have a bar of our own, we welcome clients to join us for drinks after 4.30pm on Thursdays and Fridays. If you are keen to drop in for a nice cold beer or wine and a bit of a chat, drop your account manager an email and they will make sure you get a warm welcome.

We hope you enjoy this issue of our e-newsletter – with our updates on Foursquare and how it can work for small businesses, and a sneak look at what Google TV might be delivering. Your feedback is always welcome, as are your questions if you would like our assistance with anything discussed in this email.

Till next time,

Sue and Graham

New Phone and Fax Numbers for 123 Victoria Street

The final stage of our shift to Victoria Street is now complete, with the switch to our new phone and fax numbers. The old numbers will still work for a while, but we would appreciate if you would update your records to our new numbers:

Ph +64 3 377 0031
Fax: +64 3 366 5672



Why Small Businesses Can No Longer Ignore Foursquare

FoursquareAre you doing it yet? Checking in to Foursquare when you pop out for coffee or lunch?

Foursquare is a new social media application for iPhones, Blackberries and Android phones that aims to encourage people to explore their neighbourhoods, then rewards them for doing so with points and promotions and “mayorships” for the most frequent visitors.

This concept takes the old “10 stamps and get a free coffee/sushi/breadroll” idea to a whole new level. Business owners can engage customers with “Specials” which are discounts and prizes you can offer loyal customers when they check in using Foursquare on their phones at your venue.

See what Starbucks have done to get onboard with this rapidly growing application.

Customers can also see other Foursquare businesses and specials near you, and read tips from other users and their friends about particular businesses. From an SEO perspective, we believe ensuring your business is showing up actively on Foursquare will improve your local ranking status, particularly as the location of your venue is closely linked to Google maps.

To test this out, we have just added hairyLemon to Foursquare, so next time you visit, check in with us on your iPhone or Blackberry. You can also see us online here www.foursquare.com/venue/3978196

To find out if your business has already been added to Foursquare and see what comments or Tips have been written about your business and who has checked in, visit www.foursquare.com and use the Search button at the top of the page to enter your business name.

Check out this video of how “nearby specials” work on an iPhone



Watching Whales with Super Clear Vision

This month we launched a number of new sites, including a new front end for award winning tourism business Whale Watch, and a completely new Joomla site for high profile Fendalton Eye Clinic.

Whale WatchWhale Watch

Kaikoura based Whale Watch approached us to rebuild their existing website on its current platform as Phase 1 of a complete redesign and relaunch process. Before beginning to design a new home page and front end for the site, we spent a few month collecting data on visitors to the site, looking at things like bounce rate and click through rates on a range of keywords.

We used the data gathered by our SEO team in the process of redesigning the site, to ensure it was easy to use and highlighted the key information and processes visitors were looking for. The new site went live in early May and we will be closely monitoring visitor stats and conversions.

Fendalton Eye ClinicFendalton Eye Clinic

Fendalton Eye Clinic is a high profile Christchurch based eye clinic specialising in HD laser surgery and cataract surgery. They approached hairyLemon for a complete site redesign and a shift across to Joomla.

The new site has a fresh new look, and has been optimised for search engine traffic, as well as improved usability for prospective customers. Content can now be easily updated by the client in the Joomla CMS.


Addicted to Farmville? Soon You’ll be able to play it on your TV!

Google TVThe launch of Google’s latest cross media platform, Google TV, should soon see a virtually seamless connection between online streaming and downloaded content and your normal television programming.

Nothing on any channel you want to watch? Click the web button and bring up a huge resource of online episodes and resources from suppliers including Amazon, Hulu and Netflix. Then you can jump back to live TV for the latest episode of your favourite series at the touch of a button.

Google are putting Android software and the Chrome web browser onto TV sets, Blu-ray players and companion set top boxes through partnerships with Intel and Sony.

Industry sources predict that 46% of flat panel televisions will have internet connections by 2013, up from 19% this year.

The opportunity for businesses will largely lie around a new income stream for Google in the form of Google TV ads. Google TV ads are currently only available in the US, but it would seem that the opportunity to run TV ads through their new Android set top boxes around the world is a very likely scenario.

Watch this space!


Joomla Tip – Cutting and Pasting from Word Documents into Your Site

Microsoft Word uses a lot of background code in its text which can create all sorts of issues on your website if you simply copy and paste into an article on your Joomla site.

To remove this background code (and make your life easier) you can use the 'paste from word' function in the Joomla text editor.

Inside the text editor you use when you are creating an article, there is a button that looks like a clipboard with the word logo on it (usually this button sits on the second row of icons).

Use CTRL + V to paste the content, then click ok and the job is done.

Paste from Word

New Blood for the Design Team - Briony Bonisch

Briony BonischWelcome to the newest member of our design team, Briony. She joins us from TML Publishing, after graduating with a Bachelor of Design from Christchurch Polytech.

Briony is a hands-on designer who enjoys the creative process, completing a Fabric Screen-printing course at East London’s Printmakers Studio during her OE.

She loves travelling, visiting and experiencing new countries but coming back home to NZ made her appreciate good kiwi cafe food and coffee - especially a good pie.

Briony is also a music lover and enjoys going to gigs, and ferreting through the music store bins for cheap CDs. She prefers to buy her tunes on CD rather than downloading music online.


Porirua City Council Wins Supreme Award in ALGIM Website Survey

Porirua City Council Since 2008, ALGIM has conducted a technical and content survey of local government websites, looking at the information and services provided. The aim of the survey is to provide Councils with an indication of the quality of their websites, and provide guidance in how they can be improved.


The survey results rank all Council sites under five major categories:

  • Basic Features (ease of navigation, search, and overviews of services)
  • General Information (meeting agendas and minutes, events calendar and council plans)
  • Specific Information (job vacancies, liquor licensing, noise control, libraries, consents, rates, property maps and rubbish collection)
  • Activities (paying rates online, posting submission, sending feedback and reporting issues by RFS)
  • Enquiry Response Time (speed of response to an email enquiry)

The Porirua City Council (PCC) website came 23rd in the first ALGIM survey in 2008, and took radical action to upgrade and redesign their website, resulting in a third place in 2009 and the Supreme Award in 2010.

PCC’s website manager Dale Hartle worked closely with the hairyLemon development team and designers to scope and implement the new site design.

“Following the Council's third placing in the 2009 ALGIM Web Audit, and hairyLemon's own evaluation, a number of changes and updates were made that considerably improved the accessibility and operation of the website. These changes were implemented, and the results speak for themselves,” Dale says.

“HairyLemon were instrumental in identifying, researching and preparing the changes so that the Council's website was fully compliant with web accessibility guidelines, and their knowledge and expertise in this area were invaluable.”

Westland District CouncilWe have also worked with several other councils to help them bring their sites up to the standards required to rank well in the ALGIM survey, including Westland District Council who moved up from #66 in 2009 to number #42 this year.




Last but Not Least – Making Faces at Willowbank!

New client Willowbank Wildlife Park have been keeping us busy lately and recently invited members of our project management, design and SEO teams out to participate in the Ko Tane Experience. Mel, Aidan, Briar and Trish had a great night and particularly enjoyed the participation part of the evening!


Mel at Willowbank

Briar and Aidan at Willowbank

To explore the possibility of shifting your site across to a Joomla Content Management System, how our SEO team can assist you with Google AdWords or Foursquare advice, please phone +64 3 377 0031 or email your account manager today for a quote.

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