Google Gets New Favicon

Favicons, those little 16×16 pixel icons that appear next to your URL address in your browser. They’re often neglected (guilty M’Lord) but not it would seem by Google as they’ve got a new one:

I’ve spotted it on a few google pages including adsense and google apps so far. I think I’m right in saying that (the ace) google reader acquired a new favicon the other week (or maybe further back than that). I should really start to get and use my own favicons to assist with my sites branding.

We’ve Got Balls… Techno Balls

Many thanks to Hawkins Bazaar for the very well packaged free gift that arrived in the post yesterday - a Techo Balls perpetual motion construction toy.

The compliment slip didn’t state why we’ve been lucky enough to receive the gift but as we’ve generated a few sales for them recently I’m guessing that’ll be why. It reminds me to put more effort into our little toy site too as it’s rather content light just now.

I’ll get Dad’s little helpers to put the toy together with me - it might keep them quiet for half an hour!

Thanks again to Hawkins Bazaar.

Site Revamp Update

I’ve continued tinkering with the site revamp and it’s coming along fine. We’re now using a new logo and thanks must go to Amy Fairhurst at site revamp and it’s coming along fine. We’re now using a new logo and thanks must go to Amy Fairhurst at Orangutan Creative (also on The Wirral - which is handy for us!) for a great design service. Stumbled upon Orangutan purely by chance - I was reading Fused Nation where the author Scott also recommended them.

I’ve still got more work to do; I want to add more pages, fix thumbnail graphics and move things around a little, but it’s getting somewhere near now. If you spot any funnies please leave a comment or get in touch.

The Masters

Hooray! It’s that time of year again when I spend four evenings glued to the television watching golf on BBC2 - The Masters is back! Notice the social networking aspects of that site; you can upload your own photos, watch live video, read blogs and play online games - some common ways to attract visitors and build site loyalty.

I don’t play golf at all myself - never have done other than to swing a few clubs inaccurately at a driving range - but I really enjoy watching The Masters. The course always looks great, even if it’s chemically enhanced, and you can usually expect to see some great golf from a certain Mr Woods and his comtemporaries.

As I live in Hoylake I got to see quite a few of leading golfers including Tiger when my hometown hosted the 2006 Open at Royal Liverpool (a mile or so up the road from my house). Admittedly the fantastic weather helped enormously but it was a great event that I hope will return in the next 5 years or so. I might have even done something with my Wirral golf site by then!

Theme Tweak

We’re currently giving our website a bit of an update and a nip-and-tuck here and there. I’ll post an update with more info when it’s complete.

In the meantime, please bear with us whilst we slowly peel off the bandages.

New Clients Website

A new client of mine (Mike of MJM Light Commercials - who just happens to be a good mate too) wanted to promote his Hoylake, Wirral based used vans business online. So a while back we registered a suitable generic domain (.co.uk and .com) and starting today have gone down the wordpress route only using a static homepage rather than a latest posts page. With a bit more effort and tweaking it’ll be a nice little site.

It’s good that small, real world businesses can benefit from an online presence without actually selling the main product online. Not only does Mike have another promotional avenue for his vans but his business can benefit from better advertising rates from classified ad publications because he has a website. Additionally, we’ll be looking at somepoint to cross-sell products and services such as insurance, satnav and security systems.

I suspect I’m due a Guinness or two!

Thanks Ladbrokes

Nope, I haven’t just had a winner at the 3.30 at Kempton but I have received a rather nice chocolately gift today from Ladbrokes Casino! We’ve been promoting Ladbrokes Casino for about a year or so on our gambling site.
As a result of Ladbrokes Christmas Cracker promotion we received a massive Hotel Chocolat festive cracker that’s packed full with chocolates. Looks like it’s a proper cracker too and the kids can’t wait to see if it goes bang. I’ll post a photo or two on our very new chocolates blog soon.

Just A FeedFlare Test

I’m just testing feedburners feedflare. I should see some links at the end of this post in google reader if it’s working correctly.

Thanks!

A quick thanks to OMG for the welcome gift that arrived via Virgin Wines - one of the quality merchants we promote on our wine offers site.

Cheers!

My First Wirral Map

I’m just messing about with google mymaps and here is my first map. It appears that any urls entered in your profile or on your place makers are followed - so that’s a minor benefit I guess. I’ll probably try creating another one with photos, maybe to describe one of my circuits on my running blog.

For my local Wirral sites I’ll be creating various maps with photos, covering things like churches, shops, pubs, local landmarks etc.

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